Mellberg’s contract next on list

Olof Mellberg is the next big-name Villa man Martin O’Neill is lining up for new contract talks.

The 29-year-old Sweden captain is into the final 18 months of his current deal, but is yet another of Villa’s international class to have rediscovered his best form under the O’Neill revival.

The Villa boss has already rejected a “sizeable offer” for Gareth Barry and persuaded the midfielder to sign a new long-term deal.

Now he is turning his attentions to other leading figures with Mellberg, a £5m signing from Racing Santander in 2001, next on the list.

O’Neill admitted banishing the disillusionment of the last two years had been his priority and said: “If players recover the form they have shown before, or, in the case of some of the younger lads, start to surpass themselves, I’d look at everything.

“The international break has given me an opportunity to reflect on how the first couple of months have gone and how the players have done. If contracts are running down as in Mellberg’s case, we want them to have their future sorted.”

O’Neill is still waiting for a run-down on Thomas Sorensen’s injury following his exit from the Denmark camp because of a shoulder injury.

It has put Stuart Taylor on stand-by for a first senior game of the season when Villa resume their Premiership campaign at home against Spurs on Saturday.

And the ex-Arsenal keeper is champing at the bit, saying: “The manager has been coming to all the reserve games, so it’s been nice to show him what I can do.

“But Thomas has been playing well and it’s just one of those things. I’ve just got to keep playing well in the reserves - you can’t have too many arguments with the gaffer picking an unchanged side. It’s always easier as a keeper when you’re playing regularly.”