Taylor still hoping to keep Angel

Aston Villa manager Graham Taylor has urged Juan Pablo Angel to stay and fight for his first-team place.

Taylor is expecting the striker to report back for pre-season training with the rest of his non-World Cup participants on Monday.

But Angel is still unhappy at the way he and his family were treated by the club when he first came to England 18 months ago.

But there has been no bid for his services and Villa will be looking to recoup the majority of the outlay that the then manager John Gregory made for Angel mid-way through the 2000-2001 campaign.

Taylor said: "The simple fact is that Juan Pablo Angel remains an Aston Villa player. We have not received an offer for him so there is nothing new to report.

"Like all our players, who have not been on World Cup duty, he returns for pre-season training on Monday.

"We have tremendous competition for places up front and, as things stand, Juan Pablo is competing with Darius Vassell, Peter Crouch, Dion Dublin, Bosko Balaban and Marcus Allback. They all have to fight for their places."