Aston Villa’s Stilyan Petrov has moved to the top of Liverpool’s wanted list as a replacement for Javier Mascherano.

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Mascherano informed manager Roy Hodgson earlier this week that he no longer wanted to play for the Merseysiders and the Villa man is being tipped to take over his defensive midfield role at Anfield.

Petrov is a seasoned professional who – after a lengthy adaptation to the Premier League following his move from Celtic in 2006 - has become a key component of Villa’s midfield; skilfully orchestrating proceedings yet equally happy to do the dirty work.

It will be the second time this week that Villa boss Martin O’Neill has fielded enquiries from Liverpool about one of his players with full back Luke Young tipped to sign on at Anfield for £2.5m.

The departure of Petrov should yield around £7m and the injection of funds might help the Midlands club stave off Manchester City’s interest in James Milner.