The Aston Villa defence has been a little bit slack in recent times. However Martin O'Neill is looking to improve on that with two German defenders.

O'Neill has had a front-row opportunity to assess the potential at Euro 2008, and Philipp Lahm and Per Mertesacker have been strongly linked with a move to the Midlands with Lahm looking to take the vacant right-back slot and Mertesacker set to take the place of recently departed Olof Mellberg.

However, two Germans are not enough for O'Neill, who hopes to bring back an old Holte End favourite, Thomas Hitzlsperger, after the Stuttgart midfielder admitted he would love to join up with the Midlands club again.

Should Gareth Barry finalise his "dream" Liverpool move, O'Neill would need to have somebody to replace the Villa captain.

Villans owner Randy Lerner has apparently told O'Neill that as well as quality, he wants depth in his side, so surely two more defenders and a new midfielder should be enough, shouldn't it?

Let's face it, Villa have sorted out the scoring part of the game but we seem to be having troubles at the back (still). Last season Bouma, Mellberg and Martin Laursen were fantastic at defending; however, Mellberg has gone to Italy and Bouma and Laursen haven't got long left in them before they retire.