Former Aston Villa boss Martin O’Neill has explained his decision to sell Gary Cahill to Wanderers back in 2008.

Cahill went on to make 147 appearances for the Whites during a four-year spell at the club and also earned a first call-up to the England squad.

The defender then made the move to Chelsea, where he won two Premier League titles and also had success in Europe.

He went on to represent his country 61 times in total and was called up to all four major tournaments between 2012 and 2018.

Cahill went on to have spells at Crystal Palace and Bournemouth but recently announced his retirement from the professional game.

Villa fans have since labelled the decision to sell the centre-back as one of the worst the club has ever made on the transfer front.

However, O’Neill says Cahill wouldn’t have had much game time at Villa due to competition from the likes of Olof Mellberg and Martin Laursen.

He told Birmingham Live: “Like everything else, I want every signing to be great. It might not necessarily be the case and, in the aftermath, there have been criticisms of not staying with Gary Cahill at the time.

"Gary turned out to have a really great career and well done to him. But he did go to Bolton and it wasn’t as if he went to Real Madrid.

“He spent four years at Bolton before eventually going on to Chelsea, did really well. Gary, I don’t think, would have taken a place (in the team) at that time, still being so young, with Mellberg and Laursen.

"But Gary, in fairness to him, wanted to push on in his career and, if he wasn’t going to play in our team, he wanted to play in someone’s first team so, really, well done to him!”

O'Neill left Villa Park in 2010 after four years in the hot seat and went on to have spells with Sunderland, the Republic of Ireland and Nottingham Forest.

He has been away from football since his departure from the City Ground in the summer of 2019. 

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