Aston Villa defender Gary Cahill is wanted by a trio of Premier League clubs with Birmingham and Sunderland joining the race for the player.

Bolton had agreed a fee - believed to be in the region of £4.5-£5million - with Villa earlier in the day for Cahill.

But it is now understood that Blues and the Black Cats - who meet in a vital match on Tuesday night - have matched that offer.

Birmingham boss Alex McLeish had made it clear at his press conference ahead of the game that he had not given up hope of signing the 22-year-old.

He is desperate to bolster the heart of his defence and currently only has Liam Ridgewell and Rafael Schmitz as specialist centre-backs while Radhi Jaidi is on African Nations Cup duty.

McLeish said: "Gary Cahill is a player we admire and would like to take him here as well. We will just have to wait and see what happens over the next 48 hours.

"I don't know how far down the line the Bolton thing is. But we have ruled ourselves in on anything that is happening.

"I haven't spoken to Gary. It is not fair for me to speak to him before he commits himself. We are in touch with the agent and Martin O'Neill. We will just have to wait and see if it can be done.

"Have we lost out on him? I don't know if we have lost out on him. He is someone I would like to come here.

"I think Middlesbrough had three different bids accepted for Jonathan Woodgate. If Villa accept our bid, then I guess we would be in the frame as well."

Cahill spent three months on loan on Sheffield United after slipping down the pecking order at Villa behind Martin Laursen, Curtis Davies and Zat Knight.

Villa manager Martin O'Neill is not keen on the player having another spell on loan as the regulations mean he would be unable to recall him before the end of the season and would prefer a straight cash deal.

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