Aston Villa are ready to increase their bid to sign Cardiff City goalkeeper Neil Etheridge after an initial offer was rejected, according to Football Insider. 

Villa reportedly offered £8million to bring the highly-thought of goalkeeper to Villa Park but are set to increase that to £9million in the coming days.

Despite Cardiff's relegation from the top-flight, Etheridge frequently impressed in goal for the Blue Birds, playing in all 38 of their league matches and making the second most saves in the division.

Smith is reportedly eager to bring in a reliable presence in goal for the beginning of the season with both Orjan Nyland and Lovre Kalinic proving unconvincing and Jed Steer's only recent revival.

Cardiff finished second in the second-tier two seasons ago, behind only Wolves, and came close to surviving, trailing Brighton and Hove Albion by just two points at the end of the campaign.

Fulham and Huddersfield Town joined them in being relegated back to the second-tier and all three will be determined to bounce straight back up.

The verdict 

I am not sure this is the smartest use of Villa's funds.

Jed Steer has been very steady so splashing so much on somebody who is far from essential seems a bit odd.

From Cardiff's perspective there is no real need to sell either. Etheridge will be on of the Championship's best shot-stoppers next season and will have plenty of parachute payments to help them out, so why bother cashing in?