Are Davis' days numbered?

Davis was named the club's player of the year in 2005-06, but struggled last season and has been linked with Fulham recently. And O'Neill feels that Davis could choose to leave. "There is going to be a stage where young players are either going to battle and get in the side or look elsewhere," he said. "He played excellently in his first season but didn't hit the same form last season. It is almost like a second-season syndrome."

Sutton, meanwhile, looks set for another campaign at Villa Park after his agent hushed talk of him returning to Norwich, claiming his client would have joined them a year ago, but is now keen to stay on in Birmingham. "Chris feels he owes Martin O'Neill, that is what he is like," Tony McGill told the Eastern Daily Press newspaper.