Maybury set for move to Leicester

THE first Irish international set to move in the transfer window is Alan Maybury, expected to leave Hearts for Leicester City.

Leicester manager Craig Levein, formerly in charge at Hearts, earlier this week confirmed his interest in Maybury and team mate Mark De Vries, both of whom would have been out of contract at the end of the season.

Now Hearts head coach John Robertson has conceded that both players are bound for Leicester - currently 15th in the Championship - and wished them good luck in their careers, although Craig Levein said it was too early to confirm the deals.

However Robertson said yesterday: “Alan, to his credit, has got stuck in there and never let us down. He did a great job after signing from Leeds and he now has the chance to go back to England with Craig, who knows him well from Tynecastle.”

Twenty six years-old Maybury has been capped nine times for his country and has overtaken Ian Harte in the full back pecking order in Brian Kerr’s squads. Prior to joining Hearts in 2001, he had been at Reading, Crewe and Leeds United.

Meanwhile, Aston Villa are remaining tightlipped as speculation mounts that David O’ Leary is on the verge of bringing Andy O’Brien to Villa Park. A regular for Newcastle United at the start of the season before suffering a hamstring injury, the Republic of Ireland centre-half has only made a couple of appearances in recent months and now finds his position under threat with the arrival at St James’ Park from Rangers of Jean-Alain Boumsong. Reports suggest that O’ Leary is increasingly confident of getting O’ Brien for a fee which would be in the region of £3 million.