Martin O'Neill - will discuss transfer budgetMartin O'Neill has welcomed the impending arrival of Randy Lerner as Aston Villa's new owner and will hold talks with the American billionaire in the next couple of days to determine what funds will be available before the transfer window closes.
And the former Celtic boss is hoping Lerner, the owner of NFL side Cleveland Browns, will have complete trust in his judgement when it comes to bringing in new blood.
Lerner has been given the green light to take control of the Midlands club after there were no counter-bids to his £62.6million offer by last Thursday's deadline.
He initially met with O'Neill before he was appointed David O'Leary's successor, but there has been little contact since given the fact there was no guarantee who would take control of Villa.
Now that issue has been decided the pair will meet in the next 48 hours to thrash out their immediate plans.
O'Neill is desperate to bring in new blood before the transfer window closes on August 31, but the timescale means he may have to wait until January to make sizeable purchases.
O'Neill said: "I am delighted that Randy Lerner is going to become the new owner. We had a two-hour meeting about three or four weeks ago and I am pleased he is coming because he has decided Aston Villa are a club worth going for and worth pursuing.
"I have not spoken to him about the strength and weaknesses of the squad because there was no point until the takeover was done and dusted.
"I hope now to have a little chat with him in the next few days about that. I am in a much better position than three weeks ago when I took over in terms of knowing and advising what hopefully needs to happen.
"I think he would like to develop the training ground and that will be terrific but essentially we want to try and strengthen the side with a bit of quality.
"That is something the new owner will hopefully entrust in me and accept the fact I am in a better position to make those judgements than anyone else."
O'Neill insisted he will only bring in players of quality even though Villa are lacking in numbers after the departure this week of Kevin Phillips and Mathieu Berson.
He added: "Making signings is not particularly easy in terms of getting quality players into the squad. I could fill up the squad with a host of players and numerically we are down a bit.
"We do need quality and I will be working very hard to do something about it between now and Thursday."
Villa entertain Newcastle on Sunday and despite collecting four points from their opening two games O'Neill is aware a tough task lies ahead for Villa, particularly after the Magpies signed striker Obafemi Martins for £10m this week.
O'Neill said: "In terms of the start we have made the confidence should have received a big boost and we will go into this next game with less hanging over us.
"But we have a long season ahead and it is a big ask for us at this stage against the Newcastle side buoyed with confidence.
"Newcastle are a wonderful club. They have lost Michael Owen through injury but have spent again on Martins. They deserve credit because they don't want to stand still.
"But I am happy with my players in terms of the willingness to do well even though we have no fantastic strength in depth."
Full-back Jlloyd Samuel is the major injury doubt with the thigh problem sustained during the 2-1 mid-week victory over Reading but Wilfred Bouma is back in training and will be competing with Peter Whittingham for the left-back spot.
Striker Milan Baros is also stepping up his training after a foot problem although he will not be considered until after the international break.
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