Renewed bid to keep ‘prized’ Vassell at Villa

ASTON VILLA are to hold a fresh round of talks with striker Darius Vassell aimed at persuading him to finally sign a new long-term contract.

Vassell has only 12 months left of his current deal with the midlands club and the England striker could then leave on a Bosman free transfer in the summer of 2004.

Previous Villa manager Graham Taylor wanted Vassell to commit himself to the club as early as April 2002.

His advisers SFX were against such a move but now more talks are now planned between both parties.

New Villa boss David O’Leary has already indicated that he wants to secure the services of the Vassell who gave another impressive performance as a substitute for England against Slovakia on Wednesday.

O’Leary said: “Darius is a highly prized asset and it is an asset we want to keep at Villa Park. He is a wonderful player with great potential.”

Vassell is currently on only around £5,000 a week but he could expect to at least triple his weekly wage should he agree to a new deal.

Meanwhile, Blackburn manager Graeme Souness has revealed Birmingham are close to agreeing a £5.5 million deal for England midfielder David Dunn.

Birmingham revived their bid for Dunn after Blackburn initially rejected their schedule of payments for Dunn and Souness confirmed the deal was close to being sealed. The Blackburn boss is close to finalising a move for Rangers defender Lorenzo Amoruso but will not be following up his interest in Aston Villa’s Turkish centre-back Alpay.