• Former Liverpool manager could link up with Kevin MacDonald
• Caretaker would stay on as first-team coach

Gérard Houllier could make a surprise return to football with Aston Villa after it emerged last night that the Frenchman is under serious consideration for a director of football role that would see him work alongside Kevin MacDonald.

Villa have been interviewing candidates for the vacant manager’s position this week, including MacDonald, who has been in charge on a caretaker basis ever since Martin O’Neill resigned five days before the start of the season, but Houllier is now the leading contender. Houllier has not been involved in management since he left Lyon in 2007 but he has extensive knowledge of English football, following the six years he spent in charge of Liverpool, between 1998 and 2004, and is highly respected within the game.

The 62-year-old has, however, suffered heart problems and it seems highly unlikely that Villa would want him to take over as manager and expose him to the considerable pressure that would accompany that position. A much more plausible scenario would see Houllier work in tandem with MacDonald, who is regarded as an excellent coach but has failed to convince that he is management material during the five games he has spent in charge.

Graham Taylor, the former England and Villa manager, suggested such a structure would work well when he recently held talks with Paul Faulkner, the club’s chief executive, to offer advice about O’Neill’s successor. Taylor believes that MacDonald’s skills are on the training ground and Villa appear to have accepted that is the case. MacDonald , who was interviewed by Randy Lerner, Villa’s owner, on Wednesday, has indicated that he would be receptive to working in partnership with a more experienced figure.

There were suggestions last night that Villa would make an appointment today but club officials have indicated a decision is not imminent.

Although Houllier’s time at Anfield will be remembered by many Liverpool supporters for the poor signings that were a feature of the latter years of his reign, he also achieved considerable success, most notably in 2001, when the club won three major trophies. His responsibilities at Villa would be wide-ranging and include setting up a worldwide scouting network to address weaknesses in that area.

Villa’s search for a new manager has already led to Sven-Goran Eriksson and Alan Curbishley being interviewed for the post. Eriksson is not in the running but Curbishley has yet to be ruled out. Houllier, however, is top of the shortlist and has held positive discussions with the Villa hierarchy.

Aston VillaStuart Jamesguardian.co.uk

Here are the full squad lists for the 20 Premier League clubs with their homegrown players in bold

Arsenal

1 Almunia, Manuel

2 Arshavin, Andrey

3 Bendtner, Nicklas

4 Chamakh, Marouane

5 Clichy, Gaël

6 Denilson

7 Diaby, Abou

8 Djourou, Johan

9 Eboué, Emmanuel

10 Fabianski, Lukasz

11 Fábregas, Cesc

12 Koscielny, Laurent

13 Mannone, Vito

14 Nasri, Samir

15 Rosicky, Tomas

16 Sagna, Bacary

17 Song, Alex

18 Van Persie, Robin

19 Vermaelen, Thomas

20 Squillaci, Sébastien

Under 21 players (selected)

Gibbs, Kieran

Ramsey, Aaron

Traoré, Armand

Vela Carlos

Walcott, Theo

Wilshere, Jack

Aston Villa

1 Agbonlahor, Gabriel

2 Beye, Habib

3 Carew, John

4 Collins, James

5 Cúellar, Carlos

6 Davies, Curtis

7 Downing, Stewart

8 Dunne, Richard

9 Friedel, Brad

10 Guzan, Brad

11 Heskey, Emile

12 Hogg, Jonathan

13 Lichaj, Eric

14 Ireland, Stephen

15 Osbourne, Isaiah

16 Petrov, Stilian

17 Reo-Coker, Nigel

18 Salifou, Moustapha

19 Sidwell, Steven

20 Warnock, Stephen

21 Young, Ashley

22 Young, Luke

Under 21 players (selected)

Albrighton, Marc

Collins, James

Delfouneso, Nathan

Delph, Fabian

Birmingham City

1 Taylor, Maik

2 Carr, Stephen

3 Murphy, David

4 Bowyer, Lee

5 Johnson, Roger

6 Ridgewell, Liam

7 Larsson, Sebastian

8 Gardner, Craig

9 Phillips, Kevin

10 Jerome, Cameron

11 O’Connor, Garry

12 Ferguson, Barry

13 Doyle, Colin

14 Derbyshire, Matt

15 Dann, Scott

16 McFadden, James

17 Míchel

18 Fahey, Keith

19 Zigic, Nikola

20 Parnaby, Stuart

21 Hleb, Alexander

22 Beausejour, Jean

23 Foster, Ben

24 Jiranek, Martin

25 O’Shea, James

Under 21 players (selected)

Delfouneso, Emmitt

Mutch, Jordon

Vallès, Enric

Blackburn Rovers

1 Robinson, Paul

2 Olsson, Martin

3 Samba, Christopher

4 Givet, Gaël

5 Nelsen, Ryan

6 Emerton, Brett

7 Dunn, David

8 Kalinic, Nikola

9 Diouf, El Hadji

10 Grella, Vince

11 Pedersen, Morten Gamst

12 Bunn, Mark

13 Nzonzi, Steven

14 Andrews, Keith

15 Salgado, Michel

16 Brown, Jason

17 Fielding, Francis

18 Chimbonda, Pascal

19 Diouf, Mame Biram

20 Mwaruwari, Benjani

21 Roberts, Jason

Under 21 players (selected)

Gunning, Gavin

Hoilett, David

Jones, Phil

Linganzi, Amine

Santa Cruz, Julio

Todd, John

Blackpool

1 Adam, Charlie

2 John-Baptiste, Alex

3 Basham, Chris

4 Crainey, Stephen

5 Martin, Malaury

6 Coid, Daniel

7 Demontagnac, Ishmel

8 Eardley, Neal

9 Edwards, Robert

10 Euell, Jason

11 Evatt, Ian

12 Gilks, Matthew

13 Grandin, Elliot

14 Harewood, Marlon

15 Keinan, Dekel

16 Ormerod, Brett

17 Southern, Keith

18 Sylvestre, Ludovic

19 Taylor-Fletcher, Gary

20 Varney, Luke

21 Vaughan, David

22 Campbell, DJ

23 Carney, David

24 Kingson, Richard

Under 21 players (selected)

Almond, Louis

Cathcart, Craig

Halstead, Mark

Husband, Stephen

Bolton Wanderers

1 Blake, Robert

2 Bogdan, Adam

3 Cahill, Gary

4 Cohen, Tamir

5 Davies, Kevin

6 Davies, Mark

7 Davis, Sean

8 Elmander, Johan

9 Gardner, Ricardo

10 Holden, Stuart

11 Jaaskelainen, Jussi

12 Klasnic, Ivan

13 Knight, Zat

14 Lee, Chung-yong

15 Muamba, Fabrice

16 O’Brien, Andy

17 O’Brien, Joey

18 Petrov, Martin

19 Ricketts, Sam

20 Robinson, Paul

21 Samuel, Jlloyd

22 Steinsson, Gretar

23 Taylor, Matthew

24 Al-Habsi, Ali

Under 21 players (selected)

Alonso, Marcos

Lynch, Jay

Moreno, Rodrigo

Obadeyi, Temitope

Ward, Daniel

Chelsea

1 Cech, Petr

2 Ivanovic, Branislav

3 Cole, Ashley

4 Essien, Michael

5 Ramires

6 Lampard, Frank

7 Benayoun, Yossi

8 Drogba, Didier

9 Mikel, John Obi

10 Malouda, Florent

11 Bosingwa, Jose

12 Zhirkov, Yuri

13 Ferreira, Paulo

14 Kalou, Salomon

15 Turnbull, Ross

16 Terry, John

17 Alex

18 Anelka, Nicolas

19 Hilário, Henrique

Under 21 players (selected)

Bertrand, Ryan

Borini, Fabio

Cork, Jack

Hutchinson, Sam

Kakuta, Gaël

Lalkovic, Milan

McEachran, Josh

Mellis, Jacob

Mitrovic, Marko

Philliskirk, Daniel

Rajkovic, Slobodan

Sebek, Jan

Sturridge, Daniel

Taylor, Rhys

Van Aanholt, Patrick

Bruma, Jeffrey

Woods, Michael

Everton

1 Hibbert, Tony

2 Baines, Leighton

3 Jagielka, Phil

4 Neville, Phil

5 Osman, Leon

6 Beckford, Jermaine

7 Cahill, Tim

8 Anichebe, Victor

9 Vaughan, James

10 Arteta, Mikel

11 Turner, Iain

12 Pienaar, Steven

13 Howard, Tim

14 Coleman, Seamus

15 Yakubu, Ayegbeni

16 Fellaini, Marouane

17 Mucha, Jan

18 Saha, Louis

19 Heitinga, John

20 Bilyaletdinov, Diniyar

21 Distin, Sylvian

Under 21 players (selected)

Agard, Kieran

Akpan, Hope

Baxter, Jose

Duffy, Shane

Fitzgibbon, James

Garbutt, Luke

Gueye, Magaye

Mustafi, Shkodran

Silva, João

Rodwell, Jack

Wallace, James

Fulham

1 Schwarzer, Mark

2 Stockdale, David

3 Pantsil, John

4 Stoor, Frederick

5 Kelly, Stephen

6 Gera, Zoltan

7 Dempsey, Clint

8 Riise, Bjorn Helge

9 Hughes, Aaron

10 Baird, Christopher

11 Halliche, Rafik

12 Etuhu, Dickson

13 Dikgacoi, Kagisho

14 Johnson, Andy

15 Kamara, Diomansy

16 Dembéle, Moussa

17 Hangeland, Brede

18 Murphy, Danny

19 Greening, Jonathan

20 Zamora, Bobby

21 Elm, David

22 Johnson, Edward

23 Salcido, Carlos

24 Davies, Simon

25 Duff, Damien

Under 21 players (selected)

Briggs, Matthew

Dalla Valle, Lauri

Kacaniklic, Alexander

Marsh-Brown, Keanu

Touré, Cheick

Liverpool

1 Jones, Brad

2 Johnson, Glen

3 Agger, Daniel

4 Aurélio, Fábio

5 Gerrard, Steven

6 Torres, Fernando

7 Cole, Joe

8 Jovanovic, Milan

9 Kyrgiakos, Sotirios

10 Rodríguez, Maxi

11 Kuyt, Dirk

12 Leiva, Lucas

13 Carragher, Jamie

14 Reina, José

15 Spearing, Jay

16 Darby, Stephen

17 Skrtel, Martin

18 Poulsen, Christian

19 Babel, Ryan

20 Konchesky, Paul

21 Meireles, Raul

Under 21 players (selected)

Amoo, David

Ayala, Daniel

Eccleston, Nathan

Gulacsi, Peter

Hansen, Martin

Ince, Thomas

Kelly, Martin

Mavinga, Chris

Ngog, David

Pacheco, Daniel

Shelvey, Jonjo

Wilson, Danny

Manchester City

1 Hart, Joe

2 Given, Shay

3 Taylor, Stuart

4 Logan, Shaleum

5 Richards, Micah

6 Zabaleta, Pablo

7 Kompany, Vincent

8 Boateng, Jérôme

9 Lescott, Joleon

10 Touré, Kolo

11 Bridge, Wayne

12 Kolarov, Aleksandar

13 Johnson, Adam

14 Barry, Gareth

15 Touré, Yaya

16 Vieira, Patrick

17 De Jong, Nigel

18 Milner, James

19 Johnson, Michael

20 Silva, David

21 Wright-Phillips, Shaun

22 Tevez, Carlos

23 Adebayor, Emmanuel

24 Santa Cruz, Roque

25 Jô

Under 21 players (selected)

Ball, David

Balotelli, Mario

Boyata, Dedryck

Ibrahim, Abdisalam

Nimely, Alex

Trippier, Kieran

Weiss, Vladimir

Manchester United

1 Van Der Sar, Edwin

2 Bebé

3 Neville, Gary

4 Evra, Patrice

5 Evans, Jonny

6 Ferdinand, Rio

7 Brown, Wes

8 Anderson

9 Berbatov, Dimitar

10 Rooney, Wayne

11 Giggs, Ryan

12 Park, Ji-Sung

13 Vidic, Nemanja

14 Carrick, Michael

15 Scholes, Paul

16 O’Shea, John

17 Fletcher, Darren

18 Valencia, Luis Antonio

19 Gibson, Darron

20 Kuszczak, Tomasz

21 De Laet, Ritchie

22 Hernández, Javier

23 Owen, Michael

24 Hargreaves, Owen

Under 21 players (selected)

Amos, Ben

Cleverley, Thomas

Drinkwater, Danny

Eikrem, Magnus

Evans, Corry

Gill, David

Keane, William

Macheda, Federico

Obertan, Gabriel

Da Silva, Rafael

Da Silva, Fábio

Pogba, Paul

Smalling, Chris

Welbeck, Danny

Newcastle United

1 Campbell, Sol

2 Taylor, Steven

3 Ameobi, Shola

4 Barton, Joey

5 Guthrie, Danny

6 Lovenkrands, Peter

7 Enrique, José

8 Smith, Alan

9 Best, Leon

10 Coloccini, Fabricio

11 Gutiérrez, Jonás

12 Harper, Steve

13 Nolan, Kevin

14 Routledge, Wayne

15 Simpson, Daniel

16 Taylor, Ryan

17 Williamson, Mike

18 Xisco

19 Forster, Fraser

20 Krul, Tim

21 Perch, James

22 Tioté, Cheik

23 Ben Arfa, Hatem

Under 21 players (selected)

Cuvelier, Florent

Foster, Zack

Galloway, Jordan

Musungu, Andrew

Sunderland

1 Angeleri, Marcos

2 Bardsley, Phil

3 Bent, Darren

4 Bramble, Titus

5 Campbell, Fraizer

6 Carson, Trevor

7 Cattermole, Lee

8 Da Silva, Paulo

9 Elmohamady, Ahmed

10 Ferdinand, Anton

11 Gordon, Craig

12 Healy, David

13 Malbranque, Steed

14 McCartney, George

15 Mensah, John

16 Mignolet, Simon

17 Onuoha, Nedum

18 Reid, Andy

19 Richardson, Kieran

20 Riveros, Cristian

21 Turner, Michael

22 Weir, Robert

23 Zenden, Boudewijn

24 Gyan, Asamoah

Under 21 players (selected)

Colback, Jack

Henderson, Jordan

Kay, Michael

Liddle, Michael

Meyler, David

Noble, Liam

Noble, Ryan

Reed, Adam

Waghorn, Martyn

Welbeck, Danny

Tottenham Hotspur

1 Assou-Ekotto, Benoît

2 Bassong, Sébastian

3 Bentley, David

4 Corluka, Vedran

5 Crouch, Peter James

6 Cudicini, Carlo

7 Gomes, Heurelho

8 Dawson, Michael

9 Defoe, Jermain

10 Gallas, William

11 Huddlestone, Tom

12 Hutton, Alan

13 Jenas, Jermaine

14 Kaboul, Younes

15 Keane, Robbie

16 King, Ledley

17 Kranjcar, Niko

18 Lennon, Aaron

19 Modric, Luka

20 Naughton, Kyle

21 O’Hara, Jamie

22 Palacios, Wilson

23 Pavlyuchenko, Roman

24 Pletikosa, Stipe

25 Van Der Vaart, Rafael

Under 21 players (selected)

Bale, Gareth

Bostock, John

Butcher, Callum

Button, David

Sandro

Dos Santos, Giovani

Livermore, Jake

Obika, Jonathan

Parrett, Dean

Rose, Danny

Sheriff, Ramil

Townsend, Andros

Walker, Kyle

West Bromwich Albion

1 Barnes, Giles Gordon

2 Bednar, Roman

3 Brunt, Christopher

4 Carson, Scott Paul

5 Cech, Marek

6 Cox, Simon

7 Dorrans, Graham

8 Fortuné, Marc-Antoine

9 Ibanez Tebar, Pablo No

10 Jara, Gonzalo

11 Kiely, Dean

12 Méïté, Abdoulaye

13 Miller, Ishmael

14 Morrison, James

15 Mulumbu, Youssouf

16 Myhill, Glyn Oliver Yes

17 Odemwingie, Peter No

18 Olsson, Jonas No

19 Reid, Steven John Yes

20 Scharner, Paul

21 Shorey, Nicky

22 Tamas, Gabriel

23 Thomas, Jerome

24 Tchoyi, Somen

25 Zuiverloon, Gianni

Under 21 players (selected)

Allsop, Ryan

Dawson, Craig

Haber, Marcus

Mattock, Joseph

Wood, Chris

West Ham United

1 Green, Robert

2 Gabbidon, Danny

3 Spector, Jonathan

4 Parker, Scott

5 Cole, Carlton

6 Dyer, Kieron

7 Noble, Mark

8 Upson, Matthew

9 Barrera , Pablo

10 Behrami, Valon

11 Ben Haim, Ta

12 Da Costa, Manuel

13 Faubert, Julien

14 Hitzlsperger, Thomas

15 Ilunga, Herita

16 Kovac, Radoslav

17 Mccarthy, Benny

18 Piquionne, Frédéric

19 Reid, Winston

20 Boa Morte, Luis

21 Obinna, Victor

22 Jacobsen, Lars

23 Boffin, Ruud

24 Hines, Zavon

25 Collison, Jack

Under 21 players (selected)

Eyjolfsson, Holmar

Fanimo, Matthias

McNaughton, Callum

Moncur, George

Nouble, Frank

Potts, Daniel

Sears, Freddie

Spence, Jordan

Stanislas, Junior

Stech, Marek

Tomkins, James

Wigan Athletic

1 Kirkland, Chris

2 Pollitt, Mike

3 N’Zogbia, Charles

4 Boyce, Emmerson

5 Caldwell, Gary

6 Watson, Ben

7 Caldwell, Steven

8 Thomas, Hendry

9 Stam, Ronnie

10 Gómez, Jordi

11 Rodallega, Hugo

12 Diamé, Mohamed

13 Figueroa, Maynor

14 Gohouri, Steve

15 De Ridder, Daniel

16 Al-Habsi, Ali

17 Alcaraz, Antolín

18 McArthur, James

19 Boselli, Mauro

Under 21 players (selected)

Cleverley, Thomas

Di Santo, Franco

Girvan, Michael

Holt, Joe

McCarthy, James

McManaman, Callum

Moses, Victor

Mustoe, Jordan

Routledge, Jon

Rugg, Jordan

Wolverhampton Wanderers

1 Hahnemann, Marcus

2 Van Damme, Jelle

3 Elokobi, George

4 Edwards, David

5 Stearman, Richard

6 Craddock, Jody

7 Henry, Karl

8 Ebanks-Blake, Sylvan

9 Fletcher, Steven

10 Ward, Stephen

11 Hunt, Stephen

12 Hennessey, Wayne

13 Jones, David

14 Halford, Greg

15 Berra, Christophe

16 Jarvis, Matthew

17 Bent, Marcus

18 Milljas, Nenad

19 Mancienne, Michael

20 Mouyokolo, Steven

21 Zubar, Ronald

22 Doyle, Kevin

23 Ikeme, Carl

24 Foley, Kevin

25 Guedioura, Adlène

Under 21 players (selected)

Carvalho-Landell, Andre

Ebanks-Landell, Ethan

Griffiths, Sam

Keane, Jordan

Mujangi, Bia

Vokes, Sam

Premier League squadsPremier LeagueArsenalAston VillaBirmingham CityBlackburn RoversBlackpoolChelseaEvertonFulhamLiverpoolManchester CityManchester UnitedNewcastle UnitedStoke CitySunderlandTottenham HotspurWest BromWest Ham UnitedWigan AthleticWolverhampton Wanderersguardian.co.uk

• Villa name 22 players for first half of the season
• Club leave door open for emerging young talent

Aston Villa have only named a 22-man squad for the first half of the Premier League season.

Each club can name up to 25 players, eight of whom must be homegrown, who will be eligible to represent the club until the transfer window reopens in January.

They can be supplemented by an unlimited number of homegrown under-21 players, and Villa have left the door open for emerging stars like Marc Albrighton, Nathan Delfouneso, Ciaran Clark and Fabian Delph.

Stephen Ireland is Villa’s only new signing while reserve-team regulars Eric Lichaj, Isaiah Osbourne and Jonathan Hogg all make the cut.

Villa’s 22-man squad

Brad Friedel, Brad Guzan, James Collins, Carlos Cuellar, Curtis Davies, Habib Beye, Richard Dunne, Eric Lichaj, Stephen Warnock, Luke Young, Stewart Downing, Jonathan Hogg, Stephen Ireland, Isaiah Osbourne, Stiliyan Petrov, Nigel Reo-Coker, Moustapha Salifou, Steve Sidwell, Ashley Young, Gabriel Agbonlahor, John Carew, Emile Heskey.

Aston VillaPremier Leagueguardian.co.uk