O'Neill makes Dutch trip

Vermaelen: Villa interest

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Aston Villa boss Martin O'Neill made a personal check on Ajax star Thomas Vermaelen at the weekend, according to reports in Holland.

Villa have had Ajax watched a number of times in the past few months and it is thought that Belgium international defender is the man O'Neill is keen on.

The centre-half is widely considered one of the best defenders in Holland and according to Algemen Dagblad, O'Neill wanted to check on Vermaelen himself after series of glowing reports from his scouts.

O'Neill looks set to put a central defender towards the top of his summer wanted list with the long-term future of captain Martin Laursen in serious doubt.

A top-four finish is very much the target for Villa next term and O'Neill knows he needs top-class reinforcements this summer and Vermaelen could represent that.

Vermaelen is believed to have impressed again on Sunday after he helped Ajax to a clean sheet as they beat Steve McCarlen's Twente 1-0.

Scandinavian scouting

Meanwhile, while O'Neill was personally making a scouting trip to the Dutch capital - he has also made sure his Scandinavian network is up-to-date after appointing David Wilson as the club's scout in the region.

Wilson - who has just left Swedish club Ljungskile - is now going to keep a check on the Nordic countries for O'Neill.

"I have had contact with Aston Villa for a long time and when they heard that I was taking a break from football they asked if I wanted to do this for them," he told Fotbollskanalen.

"I have many contacts left in football over here, and it will be fun travelling around looking at players.

"This is the same as all clubs in the Premier League work. And clubs from Holland.

"There are many players that are interesting in Sweden and the Nordic countries."