The midlands club have been optimistic that they could sign the 23-year-old despite Lyon making an offer of £8.5m (€12.5m).

But he has been reluctant to link forces again with his former Anfield boss Gerard Houllier.

Villa are believed to have agreed an initial £6m (€8.8m) deal which could rise by another £500,000 (€737,000) based on add-ons.

Baros is understood to be happy with the terms offered by Villa of around £30,000 (€44,000) a week which is a slight increase on his current salary with the Reds.

Liverpool have also been keen to offload Baros to give them extra income for a new centre-back and midfielder while they are also being strongly linked with Michael Owen.

O’Leary has needed new blood up front since the loss of Darius Vassell to Manchester City for £2m (€2.9m) and the departure of rookie Stefan Moore.

He tried in January to bring in James Beattie but lost out to Everton.

O’Leary is hoping events can move quickly enough for Baros to be available for Saturday’s home clash with Blackburn.

O’Leary will not stand in the way of Nolberto Solano if the Peruvian international winger tells him he wants to leave Villa Park.

Solano had been linked with a move to Liverpool as a makeweight in the Baros deal and the former Newcastle man hinted last week a switch to Anfield would be appealing.

O’Leary has insisted he has had no contact from Liverpool but admits Solano has been to see him to discuss the speculation over his future.

O’Leary said: “I will never keep someone at any club I am at who wants to leave the club. That is the bottom line.

“I signed Nobby Solano and I think for the price we paid I could not believe we did not have any more opposition for him.

“But I will never keep anyone who wants to leave. The player came to see me and I told him the same I as am telling you, no-one from Liverpool has made contact with me about it and Nobby was fine.

“I have heard rumours and everything else and I don’t know where the rumour has come from. But Nobby has seen the headlines and he has asked about it. But no-one has made an offer to me about it.

“There are rumours every day in football and we worry about other things than that.”

Solano, who is out of contract at the end of the season, was on the bench against Manchester United last weekend.

But O’Leary added: “He will start against Portsmouth tomorrow night.”

Meanwhile, defender Jlloyd Samuel is facing up to six weeks on the sidelines after suffering a knee injury against Manchester United on Saturday.

Samuel is to undergo a scan to determine the extent of the damage to his medial ligament.