Villa swoop for £4m Knight

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Birmingham-born Knight signed a new three year deal with the Cottagers earlier in the summer.

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Target: Zat Knight

But Fulham boss Lawrie Sanchez is prepared to let the 27-year-old leave after an eight-year association with the club.

Villa boss Martin O'Neill has been desperate to bring in a new centre-back to provide competition for Olof Mellberg, Martin Laursen and Gary Cahill.

He has been looking for someone in the mould of Matt Elliott and Steve Walsh from his days as Leicester boss - and believes Knight fits the bill.

O'Neill is also concerned over whether Laursen can survive an entire season after his three-year battle against knee problems.

And question marks remain over Mellberg who has still to put pen to paper to paper on a new contract even though O'Neill insists he is in negotiations with his representative.

Knight was signed by Kevin Keegan for Fulham in 1999 and he forced his way into the England Under-21 side and then the full squad.

He was part of the party which undertook a two-game tour of the United States in May 2005 and played the 90 minutes against Colombia in New York when Michael Owen scored a hat-trick in England's 3-2 win.

O'Neill, currently preparing for tonight's Carling Cup tie at Wrexham, has monitored Knight throughout the summer and he has come more to the fore after the Irishman became frustrated in his bid to sign West Brom defender Curtis Davies.

O'Neill has not given up hope in that direction and may make another bid before the transfer window closes but offers of £6million and £8million have fallen short of the Baggies' valuation of the player who is also wanted by Tottenham.

Knight unintentionally gave Villa a helping hand in their 2-1 win over Fulham on Saturday, deflecting a shot from Ashley Young past Kasey Keller for the equaliser.

The other main priority for O'Neill in the next 72 hours is to secure a right-back after the departure of Aaron Hughes to Fulham and Mark Delaney's retirement.

He has been employing midfielder Craig Gardner in the role in the first four Barclays Premier League games but that is only a short-term solution.