Salifou's eager to make Villa impact

Oct 18 2007 By Bill Howell, Birmingham Mail

MARTIN O'Neill believes that African midfielder Moustapha Salifou is hungry to make up for lost time with his deadline-day signing finally set to arrive at Villa today.

Salifou has been absolved of any blame for the near seven-week delay since his signing from Swiss club FC Wil. And manager Martin O'Neill is delighted his long wait is almost over.

"He's arriving with no pressure on him - he's on a year's contract - but it will be nice to see him," said O'Neill.

Salifou had problems getting clearance for a work permit.

"Absolutely none of this is his fault at all," said O'Neill. "We thought the whole thing was cleared on the last day of the transfer window but through a collection of circumstances there's been a delay.

"Believe me, I'm the first one to blame players, but on this occasion it's honestly not been the case.

"There's a real hunger from him to play, certainly from the convoluted conversations I've had with the agent. He was really dead keen to come."

Salifou will not have to wait long before he is pitched into action in a Villa shirt.

O'Neill is now set to hand the 24-year-old Togo international a debut against Chelsea reserves next week.