Villa eye Barry replacement

Aston Villa face strong competition from Arsenal if they want to land Standard Liege midfielder Steven Defour in the January window.

The 20-year-old midfielder is one of a number of Standard players who are attracting plenty of interest from the Premiership and Villa are reported to be lining up an £8million bid.

Villa boss Martin O'Neill is keeping an eye on one or two midfielders as doubts surround the future of Gareth Barry, and the highly-rated Defour would be the ideal replacement.

However, O'Neill's plans could be scuppered by Arsenal, who are also known to be very keen on the midfielder as Arsene Wenger looks to finally replace Mathieu Flamini and Gilberto.

Standard are bracing themselves for bids for their star players when the window opens again and it looks to be a straight battle between the Gunners and Villa for his signature.