Aston Villa have confirmed they have agreed a fee with West Ham for defender James Collins.
The Wales international is now discussing personal terms with the midlands club and must also complete a medical.
Villa are believed to be paying around £5million for Collins, who has also attracted interest from Stoke.
Villa's confidence in the deal going ahead is such that they have named Collins in their squad for Tuesday night's home reserve game, ironically against the Hammers.
Collins, who has won 28 caps for his country, arrived this morning at Villa's Bodymoor Heath training ground to try to finalise his move.
The 26-year-old began has career with Cardiff, making his debut nine years ago, and he made 86 appearances for the Bluebirds before moving to Upton Park in 2005 along with his team-mate Danny Gabbidon in a £3.5million joint deal.
Collins formed an effective partnership with Anton Ferdinand in helping the Hammers defy the odds to avoid relegation during the 2006/2007 campaign.
Collins was forced onto the sidelines for nine months when he suffered a knee ligament injury in January 2008 before returning to first-team action.
Villa boss Martin O'Neill is desperate to sign experienced defenders after the retirement of skipper Martin Laursen and the sale of Zat Knight to Bolton.
Comment 1 - 4 of 4
Good Luck Ginge!
I think this move by WH is justified... And don't forget people, Collins is injury prone too... he averages just 16 games per season! We have just signed a CB in Da Costa... theres his replacement!
Striker to be in before 5!
Cheers Ginge, you have been great for us!
Just what is going on at Upton Park? Who have we got to replace Collins ? Are we becoming a feeder club for Aston Villa ( Harewood , Reo Coker ,now Collins??/) Who have we got in Central Defence . Spector and Gabbidon are both injury prone,the latter particularly so and whilst they were good Championship players and played well for the odd game in the Preemiership , I'm yet to be convinced of their level of consistency at the top level. Tompkins is a good player and may well become a very good player , but he is not ready yet. What also needs to be borne in mind is that central defence requires a partnership that gels over time ;UPson and Collins have only just done that .This is the road to non-ambition .I've no fear of us going down or even finishing in the bottom 6 but Im afraid with this move 14th place beckons.
Relegation looms, I dread to think who''ll be on their toes in January if we don't get a new owner and shot of Duxberry
Why sell Collins to a team no better than we are. A team that will around the same position as us at the end of the season. Collins is quality and must stay !!! Do Villa want Duxberry as well ???
Please login to post a comment
Not already a Yahoo! user ? Sign up to get a free Yahoo! Account