Brian Little, the Aston Villa manager, last night continued his quest to strengthen his first-team squad by flying to Sweden to watch Gothenburg's highly rated midfielder Niclas Alexandersson play in the Champions League game against Besiktas.

Alexandersson, who has made 30 appearances for Sweden, joined Gothenburg from Halmstads for £200,000 just over two years ago. Gothenburg will allow him to move on for about £1 million.

Despite Villa's indifferent form, Doug Ellis yesterday insisted that Little's position had never been under threat. "Brian and I have a special bond and he is a good manager, a man of steel."