Agent upset over Sven story

Sven Goran Eriksson's agent has hit out over revelations in a Sunday newspaper.

Agent Athole Still hit back at The News of the World after the newspaper published claims that Eriksson would consider quitting his position as Three Lions boss, should England win the World Cup in Germany this summer.

The Swede reportedly told an undercover reporter - who was posing as a rich Arab businessman - that he would be interested in leaving his England post to become manager of Aston Villa as part of takeover bid.

Eriksson made the revelations after the Swede, his agent Still and lawyer Richard Des Voeux agreed to meet with the undercover reporter in Dubai to discuss the Swede's possible involvement in a new football academy in the Emirate.

The trip was believed to have been made with the approval of the Football Association after Eriksson was approached by a London-based company involved in work in the Middle East.

In the meeting with the undercover reporter, Eriksson reportedly claimed that Aston Villa chairman Doug Ellis is looking to sell the Midlands club and that he would be interested in managing the club, if the alleged Arab businessman took the club over.

The Swede is thought to have suggested that he could persuade England captain David Beckham to return to The Premiership from Real Madrid, claiming he has a very good relationship with the former Manchester United star.

Eriksson is also thought to have made comments regarding several other England players like Rio Ferdinand, Michael Owen and Wayne Rooney in the meeting with the undercover reporter.

The reported comments are sure to concern The FA, who have stated they are carefully considering the News of the World article before making an official response.

Eriksson's England contract is due to expire in the summer of 2008, but these latest revelations are sure to cause more uncertainty over his future in the post and comes at an inopportune time, with the World Cup finals just months away.

The revelations have angered Still, who claimed Eriksson's comments in the article were merely hypothetical and that the Swede is actually keen to extend his England contract through to 2010.

"Anyone, any fair-minded person, who knows the true background to how this happened will, I believe, 100 percent support Sven and our case in this," Still told Sky Sports News.

"Of course, it's hugely embarrassing but to be absolute, I feel that of the two parties involved - namely The News of the World and ourselves - the party that should be most embarrassed is The News of the World.

"That they should come out and go to such enormous lengths, and you have no idea the lengths they went to, because this is something that began many, many weeks ago.

"There was never any question whatsoever of them buying a football club or of Sven coaching that football club.

"It was a question of an approach we had from what seemed to be a perfectly respectable company in London, which does work in the Middle East, who had a client that was looking for consultants for a major sport and football project in the Middle East.

"It was not an offer to Sven. It was an enquiry about whether he might be interested in becoming a consultant."