O'Leary: No approach for Davis
David O’Leary insisted he has received no approach from Manchester United for Aston Villa’s fast emerging midfielder Steven Davis, who is close to signing a new contract.
There has been speculation linking the Red Devils – and Arsenal – with a possible move for the Northern Ireland international.
Twenty-year-old Davis was given his first-team chance by O’Leary 13 months ago because of injuries and suspensions but he has remained a virtual ever present.
He is expected to sign a double your money contract worth more than £10,000 (€15,000) a week in the next few days even though he still has three and a half years of his present deal to run.
O’Leary said: “There are that many rumours. No-one has spoken to me. I know Sir Alex Ferguson quite well. I’ve spoken to him enough times and he has never mentioned Davis to me.
“You’ve got to be looking at the players they have. They have got some quality and Davis has never been mentioned to me by Sir Alex.”
O’Leary was quick to spot Davis’ potential when he took over at Villa two and a half years ago and believes he can play a major role in the future.
He said: “When I arrived here, people were telling me about the Whittinghams and the Moore brothers and people like that but I spotted Davis during the two weeks training before we went away on tour.
“I was impressed with him and he has done well since he came into the side. I think it is important that the player is signed for the future of the football club, without a doubt.”
O’Leary is resigned to having to bring in loan players in January if he wants to strengthen his squad after spending his entire season’s budget in the summer, mainly on Milan Baros and Wilfred Bouma.
He said: “I’m trying to do the best I can with this football club. We spent £10m (€15m) (in the summer).
"It’s big money for this football club.
“We spent most of it on one player (Baros), £7m (€10.3m) on one player. That’s just the transfer fee without all the wages and everything else. We will be looking to bring in people on loan in January.”
O’Leary is resigned to having to use most of the players at his disposal having to play four matches in eight days during the festive season and he will have little opportunity to rotate his squad.
He said: “Will I shuffle the pack over Christmas? There is not really much to shuffle and what you saw out there on Saturday against Manchester United is what we will be getting on with.
“Hopefully Olof Mellberg will be back in the new year after his hamstring problem but that’s about it.”
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