O'Neill may swoop for Petrov

New Aston Villa boss Martin O’Neill is stepping up his efforts to sign Celtic midfielder Stilian Petrov before the Premiership campaign gets underway on August 19.

Petrov has been linked with Villa ever since it became apparent O’Neill would be replacing David O’Leary in the managerial hotseat.

Villa are preparing to make a £5m bid for the Bulgarian international who is earning around £30,000 a week at Parkhead.

Publicly O’Neill is making no comment but he sees Petrov as a key signing despite the player scoring for the Bhoys in their 2-1 reversal at the hands of Hearts on Sunday.

Villa chairman Doug Ellis is set to sanction the go-ahead for Petrov despite preliminary results showing the club made a loss of £8.2m before tax for the year ending May 31, 2006.

This was in contrast to a £3m profit in the same period the previous year. Revenue dropped from £51.6m to £49m with attendances at Villa Park down 8.7%.

Meanwhile, the battle to take control of Villa is hotting up as four consortia maintain their interest in buying the club.

American billionaire Randy Lerner remains the favourite and is expected to table a formal bid by the end of this week.

But the consortium fronted by Michael Neville is still in contention and set for formal talks with Ellis.

Neville and the group led by deputy judge Nicholas Padfield QC are still considering the possibility of joining forces while Athole Still’s consortium remain interested.

Ellis, in a statement to the Stock Exchange in England, confirmed: “Extensive discussions are ongoing to determine whether a formal offer for the issued share capital of the company will be forthcoming.”

O’Neill confirmed: “There are some funds available and I’m going to use them. We need to try to strengthen the side.

“I know plenty of people and players but whether you can turn contacts into signings is a totally different issue.

“But whatever we have at our disposal, I’m going to try to use.”

O’Neill has to convince the likes of Gareth Barry, Juan Pablo Angel and Milan Baros to remain at Villa – but captain Olof Mellberg has given his backing to the Irishman.

He said: “It’s fantastic for the players and fantastic for the fans as well. I think we all needed a lift – especially the fans.

“His arrival excites me as a player. I have only heard good things about him.

“I think this can definitely lift the players – especially the players who were maybe not involved that much last season.

“It’s all like starting a little bit from scratch for everyone.

“I think we needed that after last season, because that was really, really disappointing.”