Aston Villa are the latest Championship club to be linked with a move for Fulham captain Tom Cairney, according to a report from the Daily Mirror this afternoon.

The newspaper claims that Aston Villa manager Steve Bruce, who sold Cairney to Blackburn Rovers when he was in charge of Hull City back in 2014, has made the Fulham playmaker one of his top targets as he sets about spending the £25m he has been handed to try and turn the side relegated from the Premier League last season into a promotion force.

Fulham have opened talks about a possible new deal with Cairney, who has stepped into a leadership role this season when club captain Scott Parker has been unavailable, and told Newcastle United in December that it would take a bid of around £20m to make them contemplate a sale. The 25 year-old has scored 13 goals in 62 league appearances since moving to Craven Cottage last summer – and has found the net five times in 25 games this term.