Aston Villa boss Martin O'Neill has ruled out allowing goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen to leave.

O'Neill told the Express & Star: "There were Premier League teams who were interested in taking him, but it wasn't going to happen.

"Barnsley might have approached (Villa chief scout) Ian Storey-Moore, but I didn't want Thomas to go.

"I didn't want us to be in the situation we were in last season when we had no goalkeeper and had to loan Gabor Kiraly.

"I didn't see that many clubs racing around to help us a year ago.

"So what was the point?

"We've got to get to the end of the season and we've got 12 games, so why put ourselves in a position like that where we might find ourselves short of cover?"