Aston Villa management were so determined to make new signings last month that they created their own 'transfer war room'.

The Mirror says in yet another sign of why Martin O'Neill's side are catching up on the big four, Villa sequestered a secure 'window room' at the club's Bodymore Heath training ground, complete with whiteboards listing the club's targets at every position in descending order of desirability.

The clever idea is almost certain to have come from chairman Randy Lerner, who also owns American football's Cleveland Browns. It is borrowed from the NFL's draft day system, where clubs list the names of their most-wanted college players on whiteboards and wipe them out as rival clubs take them with their picks.

Names on Villa's hitlist are said to have included Manchester City's Micah Richards, Everton's Leighton Baines, Wolves' Wayne Hennessey and Sheffield United right back Kyle Naughton - in addition to Wigan's Emile Heskey, who they bagged for £3.5million.