GORDON STRACHAN last night revealed Martin O'Neill's first move to be reunited with Stilian Petrov at Aston Villa had not altered Celtic's determination to retain the player.

The current and former Parkhead managers held a telephone conversation on Thursday in which Petrov was a talking point. O'Neill has made signing the Bulgarian a priority since taking charge at Villa Park but it is understood his transfer budget could be limited to just GBP7m until a takeover of the club is completed. That total is approximately the same as Celtic's valuation of the player, an injury doubt for tomorrow's match against Inverness Caledonian Thistle.

The Bank of Scotland Premierleague champions have stood firm since declining Petrov's transfer request late last season and are not thought to be interested in player exchanges proposed by Villa.

"I spoke to Martin O'Neill yesterday and the situation has not changed one little bit, " said Strachan last night. "It was just a chat, there were no formal bids as such.

"We went on to talk about other things and there was no indication about a further conversation."

While at Celtic, O'Neill built up a reputation as a manager who loved to indulge in brinkmanship by signing players on deadline day. Strachan, though, insisted he could not afford to entertain offers for any players if it left no time for replacements to be secured.

To satisfy O'Neill's ambition, Villa will have to raise the funds before August 31, even without their new backers in place.

"What all the players have is a valuation by me of how important they are to the club, " said Strachan. "Their presence is sometimes greater than the financial aspect."

In terms of additions, Strachan admitted the obvious stumbling block to be overcome to realise his hope of Thomas Gravesen trading Real Madrid for Celtic.

"There would have to be some homework done on those wages and we would like to try to keep him in the structure we have just now, " added the manager.

Strachan confirmed that Celtic remained in negotiations with Wolves over Lee Naylor, the left-back, but is unwilling to accept the Coca-Cola Championship club's demand for a player, understood to be any one of Stephen Pearson, Ross Wallace or Charlie Mulgrew to be included in addition to a GBP600,000 fee.

"What I'm trying to do is sign people and keep everybody here because we need a big squad, " he said.

Wolves, though, are holding their line, with Jez Moxey, their chief executive, insisting the deal is down to Celtic.

"We have told them that we will agree to their second cash offer plus one of three of their players in whom we are interested, " said Moxey. "The ball is in Celtic's court."