Birmingham City defender Liam Ridgewell is urging his former Aston Villa teammate Gary Cahill to join him at St Andrews.

Ridgewell said: "I'd definitely like to see Gary join us. He's a great footballer. He just wants to play first-team football and I think he deserves that.

"It's good that the gaffer is interested in him and it would be good to link up with Gary again. It would be extra competition for places because it's me and Rafael Schmitz at the moment.

"People make a lot about the move between Villa and Blues but at the end of the day we just want to play football. You just want to play week in and week out."

Brum boss Alex McLeish said: "I've made contact with Gary's agent. Martin O'Neill has said I can speak to the player.

"I'm still waiting to do that and I will advance that this week. I'll try and talk to Gary and his agent and we will see if we can progress it.

"The bottom line is it's not in their hands or my hands. It is in Martin O'Neill's hands. Martin has indicated a sale would suit him but he also has a few injuries and he has got to look at his squad first and foremost.

"We respect everything Martin does in this instance and we are still looking at other options."