Villa to seal Cuellar signing

Updated 13.30 Tue Aug 12 2008
Keywords: Rangers, Aston Villa, Carlos Cuellar, Martin O'Neill

Aston Villa manager Martin O'Neill is hoping to wrap up the signing of Carlos Cuellar from Rangers as he continues his bid to strengthen his squad.

Villa agreed a £7.8 million fee with the Scottish giants for the central defender, who will hold talks with the club and will undergo a medical.

"If we're going to try and compete, even at Premier League level let alone Europe, we need a decent squad. So we need to keep adding quality if we can" - Martin O'Neill

O'Neill has already tied up deals this summer for goalkeepers Brad Friedel and Brad Guzan, full-backs Luke Young and Nicky Shorey and midfielder Steve Sidwell and believes he must continue to add depth if the West Midlands side are to challenge the Premier League's top four.

He said: "If we're going to try and compete, even at Premier League level let alone Europe, we need a decent squad. So we need to keep adding quality if we can.

"We've lost Freddie Bouma and we were quite thin on the ground before that. That sort of injury can happen at any given minute. Therefore we need to try and safeguard as much as we can.

He added: "Last season we were exceptionally lucky with injuries. Eight or nine players played over 30 games and we didn't have big runs in the FA or League Cup - therefore we were able to concentrate on the league."

Highly-rated Cuellar, 26, was named the SPL Player of the Year and voted the Scottish Football Writers Associations Player of the Year last year and has previously played for Spanish sides Osasuna and Numancia.

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