BURNLEY manager Steve Cotterill is waiting to hear if he's been successful in his bid to bring Eric Djemba-Djemba back to Turf Moor next season.

The Clarets boss has been in discussions with Aston Villa manager Martin O'Neill about securing a season-long loan deal for the Cameroon international.

Cotterill has left matters in Villa's hands, after holding negotiations with the former Celtic boss about the terms of any agreement, and hopes to have an answer from the Premiership side by the end of the weekend.

"I've spoken to Eric and I think that he would be happy to return here, which was pleasing," Cotterill said.

"But to be fair it's down to Martin, it's how Martin sees Eric's future at Aston Villa.

"I've been reading in the paper that Martin's been having a meeting with (Villa owner) Randy Lerner every day, he's probably waiting to see how much money he's getting there as to what he can buy.

"There's a knock-on effect there, so I hope that Randy Lerner has given Martin O'Neill a lot of money that he wants to spend and we can maybe have Eric back."

Cotterill's wish could have been granted already, with sources in the Midlands revealing that the former Manchester United midfielder is unlikely ever to play for Villa again, while it has also been announced O'Neill will be handed a blank cheque' this summer to strengthen his squad in an effort to achieve Champions League football.

Villa chief executive Richard FitzGerald said: "We want to be around the top of the Premiership playing Champions League football and you need world-class players for that.

"Randy has freed up a transfer pot for Martin. I can guarantee significant transfer funds have been made available, which is money coming from the owner.

"No-one has put a figure on that sum, but we wouldn't have come out and said we want to be competing at the top of the Premiership and in the Champions League if we didn't know what that entailed."

Cotterill continued: "I've had a couple of conversations with Martin, but the difficult thing to do is have a conversation with him when he's still in his season.

"But he knows my ideas and my thoughts.

"We actually wouldn't be trying to send Eric back, we would look to retain him through the summer, give him a summer programme and take it from there.

"I said I would like to see Eric in the first week in July rather than after six weeks of our boys doing all their fitness work.

"I would like to see Eric in pre-season with us, I think that's always a bonus if you can get people in for pre-season.

"We'd like it to be a long-term loan. We're just hopeful on that one at the moment."