O'Leary: I'll have to sell before buying

Aston Villa manager David O’Leary has conceded he will have to sell before bringing in new players for next season.

O’Leary is expected to hold onto his job despite Villa flirting with relegation until the penultimate weekend of the season.

“I have a list of targets and it depends how much money I can generate,” O'Leary told PA Sport.

“The only way we are going to be able to change things around is by changing players around and generating money in that way.

“But if you take Milan Baros out of the equation, we have brought in a lot of players on free transfers or paid a couple of hundred thousand pounds here and there.

“We have been shopping around at this club in that way for quite a while. I don’t think that has changed in any way.

“The club set the agenda, the wages, the amount of money. They tell me I have ‘X’ amount. The agenda has been set for me this summer in that I have to sell to get people in. That’s what I have got to do.”

The Irish manager is not anticipating much transfer activity until after the World Cup finals, however.

“This year could be a funny year,” he said. “Four years ago nothing happened until after the World Cup.

“I know who I would love to get and I would love to get them in the first few weeks.

“But I think in general nothing much happens until after the World Cup. I think the fans will have to be patient.

“The other scenario is, if we don’t get bids in for anybody then we will go with what we have got for next season. That’s the hard reality.”