Villa target Distin and Delph but drop pursuit of Tuncay

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Louise Thomas

Editor

Aston Villa are expected to follow the £12m purchase of Stewart Downing from Middlesbrough with offers for Portsmouth's Sylvain Distin and Leeds United's Fabian Delph.

Distin, 31, is likely to cost around £3m and would go some way to replacing Martin Laursen, while Delph, 18, is seen as one for the future by Martin O'Neill, who has a track record of signing young English players. It is not known what price Leeds will demand for the teenager, who has also attracted interest from Tottenham.

But it is not thought Villa will return to Boro with an offer for Turkish striker Tuncay Sanli. Boro rate Tuncay at around £8m and he wants to stay in the Premier League, but so far most interest has come from Villarreal, although there has been no firm bid from the Spanish club.

Manager Gareth Southgate is expected to use some of the money for Downing to try to recruit Rob Hulse from Derby County.