Davies set for Villa as Baggies agree a fee

O'Neill made signing Davies a priority after watching the England Under-21 player in action for the Baggies on several occasions during the second half of last season.

Davies made it clear he wanted to leave the Hawthorns by slapping in a transfer requested after Albion lost out in the Coca Cola Championship play-off final to Derby in May.

Tottenham have also been strongly linked with the former Luton player who cost West Brom £3million when he was snatched from under the noses of Birmingham two years ago.

Albion have been determined to resist selling Davies until they thought they received what was a fair valuation.

But now Villa are close to agreeing a deal in the region of £9-10million for Davies after being given permission to talk to the player by Albion manager Tony Mowbray.

It is understood personal terms will not prove a stumbling block and, providing Albion are content with Villa's offer and do not try and squeeze even more money out of any interested parties, then the deal should be concluded by Friday.

O'Neill has often stressed the need for competition for places and, after signing Zat Knight from Fulham for £3.5million, will now have five central defenders to choose from.

Olof Mellberg and Martin Laursen have been the middle partnership in the first four Barclays Premier League games of the season while Gary Cahill featured in the Carling Cup clash at Wrexham.

Davies fits O'Neill's bill in being a young and ambitious player who, like Gabriel Agbonlahor and Ashley Young, is keen to make the step up into the full England squad.

He is also a sound character although his decision to leave Albion, where he was skipper until voluntarily standing down from the role in the summer, has angered a section of Albion fans.

O'Neill is also expected to make a last ditch attempt to sign a right-back before the window shuts until January - a position he is currently filling with midfielder Craig Gardner.

But from Albion's viewpoint it means a further breaking up of last season's squad after the big money departures of Jason Koumas, Diomansy Kamara, Nathan Ellington and Paul McShane.