New Fulham boss Mark Hughes is being sensationally linked with Aston Villa.
The Telegraph says Villa were on Monday night considering making a formal approach for Fulham's Hughes after Martin O'Neill quit as the club's manager.
Extraordinarily, Hughes is believed to figure prominently in Villa's possible candidates even though he signed a two-year deal at Craven Cottage only on July 29 and is yet to take charge of a competitive game.
However the only chance of Hughes leaving Fulham would be if the club accepted his contract being bought out by Villa.
It is unthinkable that Fulham would even countenance this, or that Hughes would welcome it at this stage, which means that Villa will have to start a wider search just four days before the start of the Premier League season.
