Aston Villa boss Martin O'Neill expects to be involved in more transfer action due to the good performance of his team this season.

Villa have begun to show cracks in their small squad recently but O'Neill maintains that after a good run in the league, high profile players may find Villa Park as an attractive place to play football.

"I'm hoping that whatever comes or goes this season that we can strengthen accordingly," he told the Birmingham Mail.

"A lot of players now would look at us in a greater light than they would have done a couple of seasons ago.

"I think they see that players here get the opportunity not just to go and play, but to have free rein to express themselves individually; the likes of Ashley Young, Gabby Agbonlahor, James Milner, Stiliyan Petrov - who has had a resurgence - and Gareth Barry.

"I don't think that going forward the players are inhibited in any sort of way.

"And the players who were looking at us maybe a couple of seasons ago would now look at us in a different light, because they see a club that is definitely improving. Whether we can continue the improvement is another issue."