O'Leary wants international form from Vassell

Aston Villa manager David O’Leary is calling on striker Darius Vassell to produce his England form on a more consistent basis at club level.

O’Leary believes Vassell has been at his best for Sven-Goran Eriksson and it is a constant source of frustration he is seldom able to deliver the same level of performances for Villa.

Vassell, now likely to miss the remainder of the season with a hamstring injury suffered at Middlesbrough on Saturday, has scored 12 goals this season.

But O’Leary feels he is be entitled to a greater return from a player he is confident will be fit to take his place in the Euro 2004 squad.

O’Leary said: “Darius is an important player for England. His best stuff has come with England.

“Villa fans get frustrated by that because they haven’t seen enough of what they see with England at Aston Villa.

“Darius has been improving but there’s no doubt he has got to get his goal-scoring record up more.

“He’s been going for his best season with 12 goals – and for the ability he has, we should be looking for a lot more than that.”

As regards Vassell being a possible doubt for Euro 2004, O’Leary insisted: “I don’t think so. There is plenty of time for him.”

Meanwhile, O’Leary is adamant Villa need to sign “at least four players” in the summer to bolster a squad already down to the bare bones after 12 departures since he arrived a year ago.

With the likes of Dion Dublin and Ronny Johnsen entitled to leave on Bosman transfers this summer, O’Leary knows it is vital to bolster the number of bodies at his disposal for 2004-2005.

He said: “We do need at least four players in the summer to make us up to a squad of 18 which is not massive in any way – but we’ll need that at least.”