Former Celtic midfielder Stilian Petrov has admitted he left the Hoops because he had no desire to continue playing in Scotland.
Petrov (pictured above), who joined former Celtic boss Martin O’Neill at Aston Villa in a deal that could be worth up to £8million, told the Sunday Mail that he realised his problem against Caley Thistle in March, when he was taken off after just 29 minutes.
A hamstring injury was blamed, but the Bulgarian international now admits his problems were mental, not physical.
He said: ‘I wanted to play but felt unable to make a positive contribution. No matter what angle I looked at it from, only one answer kept coming back – and that was I had no desire left to play in Scotland. I didn’t want to leave Celtic but I had nothing left for the domestic game.’
Given than Petrov obviously didn’t want to play for Celtic, the amount Villa have paid is starting to look better and better – even if former Bhoys captain Jackie McNamara has claimed Petrov is similar to Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard. Hmm…
Our latest poll, on the right of the page, asks: ‘Was the Petrov deal good for Celtic?’ The options are yes, no and let’s wait and see.