Celtic midfielder Stilian Petrov's agent may have thrown a spanner in the works of his proposed £6million move to Aston Villa.
Reports early on Tuesday suggested Villa were close to agreeing a fee with the Bhoys to sign the Bulgaria international, who played under Martin O'Neill when the new Villa Park supremo was manager at Parkhead.
Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp had earlier claimed the Bulgarian had turned down a move to Fratton Park to link up with O'Neill again.
But Petrov's agent Tony McGill said on Tuesday afternoon: "I am working on other projects now. I have spent too much time on this now.
"If it happens somebody is going to have to do an awful lot of work and it's not going to be me."
Petrov's Villa move could be in doubt
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Any doubts over Randy Lerner's willingness to back Martin O'Neill in the transfer market have been quickly quelled after the Aston Villa manager signed Stillian Petrov in a deal that could rise to £8m.
O'Neill had made Petrov, who played under him for five years at Celtic, his top transfer target after being installed as manager at Villa Park four weeks ago. Petrov, similarly, made no secret of his desire to be reunited with his former boss, but Celtic have until now always maintained he was not for sale, despite leaving him out of Saturday's win over Hibernian.
But Celtic manager Gordon Strachan relented after signing Real Madrid midfielder Thomas Gravesen, who today put pen to paper on a three-year deal. Lerner's successful takeover of Aston Villa, meanwhile, freed up the funds for O'Neill to make a sufficient bid.
"I've known him for quite some time and I think he is athletic, young and can also score some goals for us," said O'Neill. "I think his best years are ahead of him, at 27 years old. He's the right age but he's also got plenty of experience behind him. He's got that winning mentality from his years at Celtic but I think he had that anyway."
Celtic will receive £6.5m from Villa initially, with potential add-ons of up to £1.5m dependent on performance and success. His contract is believed to be worth close to £35,000 a week.
Villa beat off late interest from Portsmouth to secure the deal, which represents O'Neill's first signing for the club. He will now look to bolster his attack, and has been linked today with moves for Tottenham's Jermain Defoe and Barcelona's Javier Saviola.
O'Neill had made Petrov, who played under him for five years at Celtic, his top transfer target after being installed as manager at Villa Park four weeks ago. Petrov, similarly, made no secret of his desire to be reunited with his former boss, but Celtic have until now always maintained he was not for sale, despite leaving him out of Saturday's win over Hibernian.
But Celtic manager Gordon Strachan relented after signing Real Madrid midfielder Thomas Gravesen, who today put pen to paper on a three-year deal. Lerner's successful takeover of Aston Villa, meanwhile, freed up the funds for O'Neill to make a sufficient bid.
"I've known him for quite some time and I think he is athletic, young and can also score some goals for us," said O'Neill. "I think his best years are ahead of him, at 27 years old. He's the right age but he's also got plenty of experience behind him. He's got that winning mentality from his years at Celtic but I think he had that anyway."
Celtic will receive £6.5m from Villa initially, with potential add-ons of up to £1.5m dependent on performance and success. His contract is believed to be worth close to £35,000 a week.
Villa beat off late interest from Portsmouth to secure the deal, which represents O'Neill's first signing for the club. He will now look to bolster his attack, and has been linked today with moves for Tottenham's Jermain Defoe and Barcelona's Javier Saviola.
