Villa in limbo over Sinclair

The search is being hampered by the fact that the Magpies are striking out in mid-season.

Both Carr and managing director Lee Charnley are discovering that candidates such as Garde and St Etienne’s Christophe Galtier would prefer to wait until the summer – as would Borussia Moenchengladbach’s Lucien Favre.

Garde told them that he would want to bring his coaching staff from Lyon with him and this would not be possible until the summer.

The Newcastle power-brokers were happy at this – but 48-year-old Garde is still not ready to end the break from football that he promised himself when he left Lyon in June last year. MANCHESTER CITY are making Aston Villa sweat over Scott Sinclair – despite being desperate to get him off their wage bill.

Villa boss Paul Lambert thought £2.5million was going to be enough to land the City outcast (right) this month.

But the Etihad outfit are now understood to want £3m and Villa cannot get a definitive answer.

Southampton and Everton also showed an interest in the midfielder, 25, before the transfer window opened, but it is Villa who have made all the running and remain in pole position.

Lambert wants an answer sooner rather than later so he can pursue other possible signings if the Sinclair deal does not happen.