American Randy Lerner has assumed full control at Aston Villa and confirmed today he is approaching the 90 per cent of shares required to force all remaining holders to sell their stock.

Lerner's Reform Acquisitions Ltd company have taken their holding to 85.50 per cent in a short space of time, having possessed just 59.69 per cent when the Cleveland Browns owner assumed charge from Doug Ellis last month.

He officially took over at Villa Park on August 25th and announced that the first closing date for his offer to shareholders would be September 4th.

Under Stock Exchange rules, Lerner was obliged to provide an update today and he has now extended the offer until September 18th.

He required 75 per cent of shares to gain control and once he reaches 90 per cent can take his stake to 100 per cent.

Lerner announced he now possesses 9,790,187 of the 11,449,245 shares in Villa.  PA