Aston Villa manager Martin O'Neill is having to be patient in the search for new signings

Jan 8 2009 by Bill Howell, Birmingham Mail

MARTIN O’Neill admits Villa are involved in what he describes as a transfer “scramble” as he bids to bring much-needed fresh blood to the club.

The Villa boss is believed to be shopping right at the top end of the market and that means clubs are unwilling to do business until they themselves have found replacements or receive bids.

O’Neill is therefore faced with holding out until he gets the men he wants, or shuffling down his pecking order of preferred targets.

The Villa boss is believed to fancy both Emile Heskey and Michael Owen.

But Heskey appears set for a move to Liverpool while Owen’s future looks destined to be resolved in the summer.

O’Neill is thought to have enquired about Sunderland’s Kenwyne Jones and is also believed to be monitoring the developments at Chelsea with regards to Joe Cole, who is unlikely to be sold in this window, and at Manchester City with regards to 20-year-old midfielder Michael Johnson.

“The difficulty about trying to sign players in the January window is very obvious. It is not the best time,” said O’Neill.

“I saw what (Albion boss) Tony Mowbray had said about the difficulty of getting players in. Even in terms of getting loan players, the chances are that their club don’t really want them to come out.

“To a certain extent there is a kind of scramble going on.”

O’Neill agrees with Mowbray’s recent comments that the market can fluctuate from day to day or week to week.

“I think Tony said just over a week ago that they were unable to buy and then something happens and you think ‘maybe I will be able to buy’,’’ said O’Neill.

“He is right in that sense. It seems to be never ending in the sense that it changes around.

“As things go on, as you make enquiries and as people