Aston Villa are eyeing Villarreal striker Diego Forlan.

The £15million rated player rejected a loan move to Sunderland and is also reportedly interesting Liverpool.

The 28-year-old scored 12 goals in 63 games for the Red Devils before moving to Spain three years ago.

But the Uruguay international has an average of better than a goal every two games in La Liga and has found the target 54 times in 103 games.

It would appear Villa would have to smash their transfer record of £9.5million to River Plate for Juan Pablo Angel seven years ago to have any hope of acquiring Forlan.

But money should not be a major obstacle given the backing of owner Randy Lerner for O'Neill.