By Paul Brown

Martin O'Neill insists it will be a incredibly difficult task to replace influential skipper Martin Laursen.

O'Neill had nothing but praise for his "colossal captain" as he revealed his desire to dip into the transfer market for an alternative.

He told AVTV: "It's a major blow because he has been fantastic here. I am delighted on the one hand that the Villa crowd got to see the real Martin Laursen. I know that was something he was concerned about.

"The real Martin Laursen stood up and was absolutely fantastic.

"You couldn't have anything but praise for him. His attitude to football was fantastic - he put his head in places where no-one else would have dared. He scored goals, he saved goals - he was absolutely tremendous.

"We've lost an inspirational leader and a really terrific player. He would be the first one to say his job was clearing it and scoring a few goals at the other end. He did both very successfully.

"The players looked up to him. He was a colossus. We were thinking about seeing him in the coming years but now we have to look at it.

"Where would we go to find someone to replace Martin? Wow, that's difficult. There's no question about it. But we'll have to look and we'll have to try and find one. I am hoping there is one out there."