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Villa chasing Norwich midfielder

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Aston Villa hope £1.5 million is enough to secure the signature of Norwich City’s Wes Hoolahan,

The claret and blue chief is hunting an attacking midfielder after they were dumped out of the FA Cup by Sheffield United on Saturday.

The Blades’ 2-1 win embarrassed the claret and blues at Villa Park and heightened the need for new recruits, with Lambert reportedly having bid £1.5m for Norwich’s Hoolahan.

“I call them No10s. I think people who can make things happen are important, because they take a risk and they take a chance,” said Lambert, who is also interested in Porto’s Steven Defour. “If you can get somebody like that in your side they can make things happen.

“They’re a special type of player, they know how to get into little pockets on the pitch to try and make things happen and that’s something you try and look at. They’re worth their weight in gold if you can get them – and pretty dear.”

But Lambert refused to talk directly about Hoolahan, who was left out of Norwich’s squad for their 1-1 draw with Fulham.

“It’s not fair to talk about other team’s players,” he added. “I don’t think that’s right. He’s a Norwich player and like any player we go for, I don’t think it’s right to comment.”

Canaries boss Chris Hughton denied Hoolahan’s absence on Saturday was because of Villa’s interest and said he was injured.

The Ireland international played under Lambert for three years at Carrow Road and won back-to-back promotions from League One to the Premier League with the Scot.

He has 18 months left on his current deal and has started just five league games for the Canaries this season.

Defour’s agent Paul Stefani confirmed Villa have made contact but it is yet to go further.

“It is not yet concrete, and it is the same story for other clubs that I can’t name,” he said.

“Steven is certainly open to joining an attractive club on condition that they offer him more playing time than he has at present.

“He’s not unhappy at Porto but he needs to be playing regularly with an eye on the World Cup.”

Written by Steve Milne – Have your say below 🙂

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