Villa signings are on the way - O'Neill

Aug 3 2007 By Bill Howell, Birmingham Mail

MARTIN O'Neill insists there is no doubt in his mind he will replenish Villa's scant resources by the end of August.

Liam Ridgewell's move to Blues today and the cancellation of Eric DjembaDjemba's contract has brought the number of players leaving the club to nine since the spring when Juan Pablo Angel moved to America.

Steven Davis, Aaron Hughes, Gavin McCann, Jlloyd Samuel, Lee Hendrie and Chris Sutton have all moved on or retired with only Nigel Reo-Coker and Marlon Harewood brought in.

Villa are believed to be ready to bring in Copenhagen's Brede Hangeland as a replacement for Ridgewell, and O'Neill insists his numbers will be back up to speed by the end of the month.

He said: "Rest assured, we will have the players in. There are things in place at this moment.

"How many? It is hard to say but by the end of the window I would not want to be outnumbered in the sense of who has gone out and who has come in, so we have a few to bring in.

"I am in the throes of acquiring some more players at the moment. I have allowed some players to go and the chairman has allowed me to run the football club in the fashion I am doing."

O'Neill admits he has had to undertake a game of cat-and-mouse to get the players he wants at the right value.

"I would prefer to wait a bit longer for the choices I made," he said. "Prices dictate. In an ideal world I would have liked to have had a couple of other players in but between now and transfer deadline, we will have them in. I am absolutely sure.

"There is no point in me carping on about November and December of last year when we had a severely depleted squad and finding out we are doing exactly the same this time around."

O'Neill insisted that moneybags West Ham and Manchester City have made inflated prices which he refuses to pay.

He added: "West Ham have certainly thrown down the gauntlet."

But the Villa boss is pleased with how his new side are shaping up.

"We have done well in the pre-season games but I wouldn't start reading into that," he said. "In terms of us getting a few results and being good for confidence, great. We have looked delightful going forward and that we could create.

"But in terms of our first game against Liverpool, that is a different ball game."

O'Neill wants Villa to simply improve on 11th spot last season.

"During the course of the season I want us to improve from last season," he said. "We finished last season on a high and the players have got really good confidence about themselves so we are looking forward to the start of the season."

O'Neill explained his decision to allow Ridgewell to move to Blues.

"Liam was seeking first-team football, he was wanting to go and play," he said.