Departed defender Zat Knight today urged Villa to sign Sylvain Distin as his replacement, declaring: “He’s one of the Premier League’s finest”.

Knight was offloaded to Bolton on Saturday in a deal worth an initial £4m to Villa with the possibility of further add-ons, signing a three-year contract.

His sale follows on from Martin Laursen’s retirement to leave Villa with just two senior central defenders, Curtis Davies and Carlos Cuellar, but the club remain hopeful of tying up a deal for Distin – despite a first offer of around £2.5m being rejected by Portsmouth.

And Knight believes the acquisition of the former Manchester City defender, who is also rumoured to be interesting Liverpool, would be a major boost to a squad currently looking worryingly thin on numbers.

“I think he is one of the best in the Premier League,” said Knight, who joined Villa from Fulham for £3.5m two years ago. “He has done well wherever he has been, both at Manchester City and Portsmouth.

“He is a big, strong lad. He is quick and is experienced in the Premier League so I can understand why the club are going for him.”

Boyhood claret and blue fan Knight, twice capped by England, admitted he left Villa Park with a heavy heart and said: “Sometimes it’s out of your hands.”