• Norwich will fight to persuade the Scot to stay
• Villa step up search for McLeish replacement
Aston Villa will step up their efforts to make Norwich's Paul Lambert their new manager in the next 24 hours. Villa are set to make an official approach for Lambert as they look to find a successor to the sacked Alex McLeish.
Lambert has guided the Canaries to two successive promotions and established them in the Premier League last season. But it is understood Norwich will not welcome such an approach and will fight hard to keep the Scot, who is operating on a rolling contract at Carrow Road.
It is believed Lambert is content at Norwich and he must decide whether Villa are a big enough attraction to persuade him to leave. They avoided relegation from the Barclays Premier League by only two points and had significantly to reduce their wage bill after debts of more than £50m for the year ending May 2011. Villa owner Randy Lerner is hoping it will be a case of third time lucky in terms of replacing McLeish.
He held talks with former Manchester United star Ole Gunnar Solskjaer but he opted to stay at Molde in Norway for family reasons - although he was not formally offered the Villa post.
Villa also spoke with advisors of Wigan boss Roberto Martinez, who had initially rejected the chance to replace Gerard Houllier 12 months ago.
But Latics boss Dave Whelan today claimed Martinez, who held talks with Liverpool, was staying put. Read More
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