Steve Sidwell is on the verge of a move to West Ham as Villa manager Gerard Houllier meets owner Randy Lerner to thrash out his January transfer plans.

The 28-year-old midfielder and his agent has held talks about a possible move to Upton Park, as he seeks a return to London in a deal which would reunite him with Avram Grant who managed him at Chelsea.

Sidwell’s contract expires at the end of the season and Villa are prepared to let the midfielder join the Hammers for a nominal fee, which could even be as low as £250,000.

The emergence of youngsters Barry Bannan and Jonathan Hogg has persuaded Houllier to let Sidwell, as well as Stephen Ireland, leave Villa Park which will help ease the club’s wage bill.

Houllier cancelled a press conference scheduled for lunchtime today and will hold extensive talks with Lerner, on which players he intends to attempt to pursue when the window opens next month.

Villa have been linked with a move for Tottenham striker Robbie Keane, who has been told by Spurs manager Harry Redknapp that he can leave the club to secure regular first-team football.

Houllier has also made several scouting trips to his native France to check out potential transfer targets, with Stade Brest striker Nolan Roux thought to be among those under consideration.

Villa chief executive Paul Faulkner admitted Houllier can count on the support of Lerner as he prepares to strengthen his squad.

Faulkner said: “Randy is as dedicated as he’s ever been, absolutely.

“When he bought the club it was always a plan where you knew you were going to have to pay the price to buy it, then spend on players initially and over a number of years.

“There’s always an initial period of spending and then it settles down a little bit.

“But the ambition now is the same as it’s always been, which is to be up there competing at the very highest level in England and in Europe.

“I’ve not seen direct criticism of Randy, but if it’s about spending you can look at any number of statistics and say we’ve spent £140million on players and net it’s still nearly £100million.

“Over those four-and-half-years there’s probably only Man City who have spent more.

“So if you really get into that I feel pretty comfortable with our record there.”