Baros, Wiltord & Another 17yr Old FLBuild: Fidolook 2002 SL 6.0.2800.94 542005 11:39:16

Baros transfer twist as Villa move for Italian

Aug 19 2005

By David Prior Daily Post Staff

MILAN BAROS may be forced into an unwanted move to Lyon after it was revealed last night that Aston Villa had turned their attentions to Juventus striker Fabrizio Miccoli.

The French club were yesterday reported to have tabled an offer of £8.5million for Baros, outstripping Villa's bid by £2m and seriously threatening David O'Leary's hopes of luring the Czech front-man.

And although Baros would prefer a move to the Midlands club, the matter may be taken out of his hands as Liverpool hold firm over their valuation of the 23-year-old.

Moreover, Villa are now under-stood to have mounted an alternative bid having become tired at the length of time it was taking to tie up a Baros deal.

Juventus claim 26-year-old Italy international Miccoli, who played for Fiorentina last season, will go to either Villa or Benfica in the next two days. General director Luciano Moggi said: "We need to sell a striker, and that would be Miccoli. In a couple of days' time,, we will know whether he will go to Benfica or Aston Villa."

Should Villa succeed in luring Miccoli, Baros may be left with little option but to join up again with Gerard Houllier, now in charge at the Stade de Gerland.

The former Anfield manager is likely in any case to offer the Euro 2004 star a tempting package with Michael Essien's imminent move to Chelsea set to flush the Lyon coffers by around £26m.

Rafael Benitez may also be keen on Baros moving to Lyon as he could then engineer a swap deal involving Lyon forward Sylvain Wiltord.

The former Arsenal player has been earmarked by the Spaniard as a potential solution to his right-sided problems and is thought to have enquired about the 31-year-old Frenchman's availability.

Wiltord was less than complimentary at Houllier's arrival at Lyon, and has been tipped to depart ever since.

Wiltord is just one of several targets for Benitez, with the Liverpool manager already having an approach rebuffed for Villa's Nolberto Solano as part of a deal to take Baros to the Midlands.

Any move for Real Madrid striker Michael Owen is dependent on Baros leaving Anfield, with Benitez also remaining in the market for a centre-back.

Meanwhile, Liverpool could be set to beat Arsenal and Inter Milan to the signature of one of Austria's most highly-rated talents.

Besian Idrizaj, an attacking midfielder with Linzer ASK and Austria's current young player of the year, last night claimed he had successfully concluded negotiations with the Merseysiders and would be signing a contract within the next couple of days.

And the 17-year-old added: "I have always been a fan of Liverpool and it would be a dream come true to play for them."

Idrizaj, a Austrian under-19 international, undertook a three-day trial at the club recently and would prefer a move to Anfield over Arsenal and Inter, who have both had the player watched on several occasions.

He said: "If you get a chance like that, you have to take it. You cannot ignore a trial with the reigning Champions League winners. I would even have swum across the Channel just to take part."

Idrizaj scored in Austria U19s' win over Northern Ireland at the weekend, and he added: "It was the best thing that could happen to me. I knew some Liverpool officials were in the stands, so scoring the winner was the perfect promotion campaign."

Liverpool were unable to confirm last night whether any deal had been finalised.