Aston Villa boss Alex McLeish claims it’s unlikely the club will do big business in the January transfer window.

Owner Randy Lerner last week stressed the need for the club to continue to drive down the wage bill.

And, while McLeish has yet to discuss his transfer plans for the window, he does not expect to have much cash to play with.

“At the moment we’ve not had that discussion about whether we will be in the market to bring new players in,” said McLeish.

“Randy and the board want to drive the wages down, in terms of the financial fair play rules but also in the way that the club’s run and not to be doing a Leeds United.

“That’s the state of affairs at the moment. It depends where we’re at.

“If we’re in a really healthy position (on the pitch) we’ll probably not look to do anything. I wouldn’t have thought we would, but we haven’t had a meeting to say that there are no funds available.

“The club’s got to run within its means. I don’t know how many times we’ve got to talk about this. It’s just the same record every week.”

McLeish also explained that Villa’s board have not demanded he qualify for Europe this season and insistedchief executive Paul Faulkner’s comments yesterday reflect a long-term viewpoint.

“I know Paul and the European thing he’s talking about ultimately. I know that every single Villa fan expects us to be fighting for Europe every single year of Villa’s existence and I accept those expectation levels,” explained the Villa boss.

“I’ll just keep fighting. I’ll try to keep the club in a very good stable position and try to get as high up the table as we can with the resources that we’ve got.

“Whether there’s money to spend in January, I don’t yet know.”

Faulkner, meanwhile, has reaffirmed the club’s commitment to keeping hold of club-record signing Darren Bent.

“We will keep Darren Bent, plain and simple. I’d not even thought about it – maybe that gives an indication of the club’s mentality,” said Faulkner.

“If someone comes in and says they’re going to double or treble your money – Manchester City have been able to do that with a couple of players – that’s always going to make it hard.”