Villa Players' Urged

Marcus Allback and Gareth Barry are urging Aston Villa and Darius Vassell to reach agreement over a new contract for the England striker.

Vassell's agents and Villa have still to thrash out a new deal with the current contract having only 18 months to run.

Talks have been going on since before Vassell went with England to the World Cup finals last May but an impasse has been reached.

"Darius is a key player so hopefully Villa can get him to sign a contract as soon as possible," Allback said.

"If it hangs over your head, it can be a distraction. I had the same sort of thing just before I came here from Herenveen.

"We'd had our first daughter and then there was the World Cup finals with Sweden and I was thinking about the contract and the future.

"It would be nice for Darius to get it out of the way.''

Barry, who came through the Villa youth and reserve ranks with Vassell, said: "The issue has been going on for a while now. Every fan and every player wants Darius to sign a contract.

"He's one of the best young players in the country so the rest is down to Darius and the club.

"We all want him to stay and I'd like to urge everyone to do all they can to make sure he is signed up.''