Villa win battle for Bolton midfielder

John Gregory yesterday completed his first signing as Aston Villa manager with a £4.5 million deal to take the midfielder Alan Thompson from Bolton.

"He is the player I wanted more than anybody since I took over here, and I am delighted to have signed somebody of his quality," said Gregory. The 24-year-old, who had also interested Leeds, Leicester, Celtic and Everton, made his league debut for Newcastle, his hometown club, and played 16 games before moving to Bolton in 1993.

Liverpool have completed the £2 million signing of Sean Dundee from Karlsruhe, where he scored three goals last season as the team were relegated. The South Africaborn striker passed a medical last week and yesterday he received international clearance from Germany.

Meanwhile, Martin O'Neill took another step towards the door at Filbert Street yesterday, asking for a further 24 hours to consider his future. The Leicester City manager was, in essence, confirming that he is on the verge of resigning from the post only 30 months after he succeeded Mark McGhee.

The 46-year-old O'Neill will announce his decision at about 3.00 p.m. today. Although the Leicester hierarchy remains optimistic that the Ulsterman will agree to stay, the omens are not good.

At the precise moment O'Neill was telling Sir Rodney Walker, the chairman of Leicester's plc arm, that he required more time, the Everton board were assembling at Goodison Park, and the question of Howard Kendall's continued employment as manager was the first item on the agenda.

The calls for a change of manager, direction and attitude will have been loud and if Kendall goes, O'Neill will be invited to succeed him.

Although Sir Rodney and the other members of Leicester's newlook football committee have pledged about £12 million for new players, O'Neill is in no mood to compromise. He is also insisting that he be allowed to smash Leicester's wage structure, which has a ceiling of £5,000 a week.

Mark Goldberg completed his £22 million takeover of Crystal Palace yesterday clearing the way for Terry Venables to come in as manager in a deal which is understood to include almost £1 million in salary paid to him up front.

Ray Lewington will be his assistant and Steve Coppell is to remain as the director of football.

Venables's contract at Soccer Australia expires next month.