Martin O'Neill will allow any player to leave Aston Villa who remains unhappy about staying at the midlands club after holding talks with him.

O'Neill has inherited a squad in which doubts surrounds the future of Gareth Barry, Juan Pablo Angel, Milan Baros and Lee Hendrie. Barry - a target for Tottenham this summer - has given the strongest hint he may be prepared to stay by claiming O'Neill's appointment is "a clean start for everybody".

But the picture will become clearer when O'Neill speaks with the quartet during the next few days.

O'Neill said: "I need to speak to all the disenchanted players. I wouldn't want people like Angel, Baros, Hendrie or Barry walking out the door without having spoken to me. On a general basis, I will try to persuade them to stay but if I'm unable to, if I can't convince them, I don't want to keep those who are unhappy.

"I will meet them individually. That's the best way. They may have a personal gripe or moan and I might be able to sort it out."

Baros has been linked with a move to SV Hamburg all summer but a foot injury sustained during the World Cup with the Czech Republic has meant any possible deal being put on ice. O'Neill is delighted to be back working with players on a day-to-day basis again after a 15-month absence from the game to look after his sick wife Geraldine.

He said: "I missed the game from the day I said I wasn't going to be managing Celtic anymore. I felt the summer was okay because you weren't involved in football.

"Last August when it kicked off, I did miss it. That doesn't mean I attended a lot of games. I watched Fulham a lot because it was quite local but I'm an avid watcher of the Premiership from a distance on the television.

"I missed the game and wanted to get into the game and it's been 15 months. At times it feels like 15 years and at other times it feels it has passed rather quickly."