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Tim Sherwood has revealed that takeover talks at Aston Villa have now broken down.

Chairman Randy Lerner had been discussing a deal with a consortium who were thought to have been granted exclusivity, but that period has now passed.

Lerner, who first put Villa up for sale at the end of last season, was close to finally finding a buyer but that is no longer the case.

See how we covered reaction to takeover collapse here

“I think it’s dead now to be honest,” said Sherwood.

“It was fairly live but I think the people who were talking are now not there.

“The chairman is picking it up and running with it now.

“I’m not sure if anyone is too close now.

“Until it’s done it’s never there.”

Lerner did hold talks with at least one interested party but a deal could not be struck.

Villa still remains on the market and if a suitable buyer comes forward Lerner will have no hesitation in offloading the club should he receive the right bid.

So far, though, it has not been forthcoming and Lerner is pressing ahead with business ahead of the 2015/16 campaign.

Already he has sanctioned a deal to sign Idrissa Gueye for £9million in what is Villa’s most expensive signing for four years.

Another £9m deal is on the cards to bring Jordan Amavi to the club from the Nice and that one is almost over the line.

A fee has been agreed with the Ligue One outfit for the 21-year-old left-back and personal terms will not pose any problems.

With Micah Richards arriving on big-money this summer, the days of penny-pinching are starting to change.

“Randy is the one who is making the decisions regarding the players,” Sherwood said.

“He is willing to back us to the hilt.

“But he can only back us to the tune of financial fair play. That means there might have to be some exits from the club before we can get in some more.”

Shay Given left for Stoke City last week while Matt Lowton and Andreas Weimann have also departed.

Ideally Sherwood would still like to offload some of the unwanted players in the first-team but he’s having problems shipping them on.