Villa set to sign Knight - Sport in brief - Evening Standard
       

Villa set to sign Knight

Aston Villa are set to complete the signing of Fulham defender Zat Knight in a £4million deal.

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

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