Aston Villa manager Martin O'Neill is finally on the verge
of landing one of his major targets of the summer in West Brom
defender Curtis Davies with just a few hours to spare before the
transfer window closes. O'Neill made signing Davies a priority
after watching the England Under-21 player in action for the
Baggies on several occasions during the second half of last
season.
Davies made it clear he wanted to leave the Hawthorns by slapping
in a transfer requested after Albion lost out in the Coca Cola
Championship play-off final to Derby in May. Tottenham have also
been strongly linked with the former Luton player who cost West
Brom £3million when he was snatched from under the noses of
Birmingham two years ago.
Albion have been determined to resist selling Davies until they
thought they received what was a fair valuation. But now Villa are
close to agreeing a deal in the region of £9-10million for Davies
after being given permission to talk to the player by Albion
manager Tony Mowbray. It is understood personal terms will not
prove a stumbling block and, providing Albion are content with
Villa's offer and do not try and squeeze even more money out of any
interested parties, then the deal should be concluded by
Friday.
O'Neill has often stressed the need for competition for places and,
after signing Zat Knight from Fulham for £3.5million, will now have
five central defenders to choose from. Olof Mellberg and Martin
Laursen have been the middle partnership in the first four Barclays
Premier League games of the season while Gary Cahill featured in
the Carling Cup clash at Wrexham.
Davies fits O'Neill's bill in being a young and ambitious player
who, like Gabriel Agbonlahor and Ashley Young, is keen to make the
step up into the full England squad. He is also a sound character
although his decision to leave Albion, where he was skipper until
voluntarily standing down from the role in the summer, has angered
a section of Albion fans.