Espanyol eye Villa's Berson

Aston Villa have received an official approach from Spanish outfit Espanyol for French midfielder Mathieu Berson.

The 25-year-old signed from Nantes for £1.6m (€2.4m) last summer but made only 13 appearances as he struggled to come to terms with the pace of the Barclays Premiership.

Operations director Steve Stride told te club’s official website, www.avfc.co.uk: “We’ve had an approach from Espanyol, but that’s as far as this has gone so far.”