Villa insist that striker Angel is not up for sale

Aston Villa have denied reports that they are about to sell their club record-signing Juan Pablo Angel.

There is speculation that Villa are looking to cash in on the player they bought for £9.5m from River Plate and that the player is unhappy following John Gregory's resignation from the manager's job last week. The club are adamant, however, that there is no possibility of Angel being sold.

The Ipswich defender, Wayne Brown, has joined Watford on a month's loan and could make his debut at Preston tonight.

Meanwhile, defender Amir Karic has returned to his native Slovenia until the end of the season to enhance his World Cup prospects. Karic has failed to push his way into the first-team squad at Portman Road and has rejoined Maribor, the side from which Town bought him in 2000 for £750,000.

Preston are waiting for the Spanish football federation to send them the relevant papers before giving their Icelandic new signing, Toddy Gudjonsson, a debut tonight against Watford. The midfielder has joined on loan but his papers have yet to be faxed through from his old club, Las Palmas.

Preston's Colin Murdock has been ruled out of Northern Ireland's friendly against Poland next month with a broken foot.

Claus Jensen, the Charlton Athletic midfielder, could miss Denmark's friendly against Saudi Arabia on 13 February because of a knee injury.