Martin O Neill: Premiership is my priority
MARTIN O’Neill has insisted he will not be making rash signings to follow up the arrival of Steve Sidwell simply to boost the club’s InterToto campaign.
The Irishman is looking to close a number of deals but, with just nine days to go before Villa enter the competition, the Irishman says his gaze will not move away from preparations for the Premier League.
“We’ve got less than a fortnight before the InterToto Cup but registering players is a 24-hour deadline before those games,’’ he said.
“It would be nice to get through but I wouldn’t want to just sign players just for the sake of trying to get them involved in the InterToto Cup.
“We still need one or two. I want to get through the InterToto if we can without it causing too much of a problem to our fitness.”
O’Neill is wary of a very real threat posed by Danish club Odense, who are already ahead in their tie with TPS Turku with Sunday’s home tie to come.
“Odense are 2-1 up and you would think over two legs they’d be pretty strong,’’ said O’Neill.
“We wouldn’t take anything lightly but getting players in during this pre-season is our aim.
‘‘I know we’ve got until August 31 but we need the strength in depth before we kick off.”
O’Neill flew out today to join his team in Switzerland for their games against FC Wil tonight and FC Zurich on Saturday.
Although the squad travelled on Tuesday, O’Neill stayed behind to talk to agents about possible new signings.
Meanwhile, Turkish club Galatasaray have contacted Thomas Sorensen’s agent with a view to signing the free agent.
The former Villa keeper revealed: “I know of the rumours and I know Galatasaray are talking with my agent, but there is still some distance to go.’’
