Villa to offer Harewood in £18M bid for Blackburn's Santa Cruz

Aston Villa boss Martin O'Neill is chasing Blackburn Rovers striker Roque Santa Cruz.

The Mirror says O'Neill plans to use Marlon Harewood as bait to land Blackburn's Santa Cruz in an £18million deal.

O'Neill failed with bids in the summer for the Paraguay striker and West Ham's Dean Ashton.

Rovers boss Paul Ince is a fan of Harewood, who has started just one league game for Villa since arriving from West Ham in 2007. Villa hope Rovers accept Harewood and cash sum for Santa Cruz.