The former England U21 star, who broke the British transfer record in 1994 with his £5 million move to Blackburn from Norwich is known to be high on manager John Gregory's list after failing to prise Andy Cole from Manchester United.

Chris Sutton is one of the most versatile English players being able to play as either the target man, to play off the the target man and also as a central defender and would be a very good addition to the Villa squad.

Gregory still has millions burning a hole in his pocket after sales of Dwight Yorke, Savo Milosevic and Sasa Curcic and is desperate to find the attacker Villa lack who can score 25+ goals a year.