ASTON VILLA are set to up their bid to secure Alan Stubbs from Celtic, although it is believed they are still very well short of Celtic's valuation of the player.
Reports from England last night suggested Villa coach John Gregory is desperate to take Stubbs to Villa Park to shore up his defence, which lost four goals to Coventry on Saturday.
However, although Gregory could go as high as #5m for the player, Fergus McCann looks likely to stick to his guns and ask #6.5m.
Reports emanating from the South state that Gregory is really keen to land Stubbs, but the Aston Villa board are baulking at the Celtic asking price.
Stubbs has gone on record to criticise Celtic for putting such a high price on his head, and has made it clear he felt he had a verbal agreement with the club which would allow him to leave if an English team came in for him.
McCann has based his valuation of Stubbs on the #5.3m Derby received for Christian Dailly. However, the fact that Dailly is a regular Scotland internationalist is used to justify his fee, whereas Stubbs has yet to earn a full England cap.
The centre-back has been a major success at Parkhead since signing in a #3.5 million deal from Bolton in 1996, but has made it clear his family are homesick and he wants to return south of the border.
However, it is clear Celtic manager Dr Jo Venglos will want to keep the player at Parkhead at least until the end of the season.
Meanwhile, it is reported that Celtic have finally stumped up their #600,000 share of the
Mark Viduka transfer fee to
Melbourne Knights.
The Australian outfit have been waiting for four months for their 20% slice from the #3m fee that took Viduka from Croatia Zagreb to Parkhead, but Celtic have now deposited their debt to Melbourne in a trust account held by the Knights' solicitors.
Vice-President Ivan Skunca said: ''Celtic have now paid their debt in full and we are pleased everything has been resolved at long last. This will now make us one of the most financially strong clubs in Australia.''
The cash boost marks a huge turnaround in fortunes for the Knights, who had earlier announced they would have to fold if they did not receive their settlement from Celtic.
Viduka left Melbourne Knights, his first club, in 1995 to move to Croatia Zagreb.
FIFA will announce their decision in the dispute between Celtic and Melbourne Knights later this month.
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