Gérard Houllier has responded to a growing injury list and youthful squad at Aston Villa by agreeing to sign the 37-year-old former Arsenal midfielder Robert Pires.
Pires is a free agent having been released by La Liga club Villarreal in the summer and is expected to finalise the transfer by the end of this week.
The 2002 Footballer of the Year, who won two Premier League titles and three FA Cups during a six-year career with Arsenal that also included being part of the 2004 Invincibles, has been training with Arsène Wenger's squad in recent months and this week admitted he would consider a move to any promotion hopefuls in the Championship. Houllier, however, has offered Pires a return to the Premier League after a four-year absence and, fitness permitting, the former France international could feature in Villa's visit to Blackburn Rovers on Sunday.
Villa's assistant manager, Gary McAllister, said: "Robert has been training at Arsenal. I know the boss and Arsène Wenger are very friendly and I believe he's going to join us in the next two or three days. It's perfect. I am sure he will arrive at the training ground in good condition. He's a player everyone can look up to because of what he has achieved."
Wenger, who managed Pires at Arsenal, declined the opportunity to re-sign the midfielder but believes the veteran can still make an impact at Premier League level. He told the French newspaper L'Equipe: "To me, before his knee injury, Pires was the best left [side] attacking midfielder in the world. With us he was just flying. Even if he has lost the speed of his youth, he can still help at Aston Villa thanks to his knowledge of the game."
Houllier admitted after Saturday's 2-2 draw with Manchester United that he needed to sign "one or two players in January" and moved for Pires after Richard Dunne, at the weekend, became the 10th senior Villa player to join the injury list.
Dunne, who suffered a recurrence of a knee injury, is the latest problem for a squad that is also without Stilian Petrov, Nigel Reo-Coker, Emile Heskey, John Carew, Carlos Cuéllar, Steve Sidwell, Habib Beye, Fabian Delph and Ciaran Clark. Gabriel Agbonlahor was forced to withdraw from the England squad after taking a knock against United.
The Villa manager, meanwhile, has ruled out a possible move for Michael Owen in the January transfer window. The Manchester United striker worked under Houllier at Liverpool, but when asked whether he would be interested in a reunion, the Frenchman replied: "No, no. In terms of some strikers Emile and John will come back. There is no point."
Houllier has also called for patience in giving his youngsters, such as Marc Albrighton and Barry Bannan, time to develop. "I think at some stage one of them will have a very poor game, but you must not judge on one game. It's a whole picture thing."