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• Founded:1874
• Manager:Gerard Houllier

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O'Neill defends Cahill sale

07 Nov 2009 - 10:34:05

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Aston Villa manager Martin O'Neill insists that the decision to sell central defender Gary Cahill to Bolton Wanderers in January 2008 was the right one.

The 23-year-old has been in superb form since joining the Trotters in a £5million deal and is challenging for a spot in the England squad for next summer's World Cup finals.

However, O'Neill insisted: "Have I any regrets that Cahill left? No.

"He wasn't exactly kicked out of the door, but Gary got to the stage where he wanted to play first-team football.

"He felt he wasn't going to get that in the coming weeks or months on a regular basis at Villa and, if we couldn't keep him, then we don't really want to stop people from making progress.

"Bolton, Birmingham and Sheffield United were interested. Bolton paid us £5million for the lad plus the sell-on fee and we were happy to do it.

"He was happy to go, we are happy and we still remain happy with the situation.

"Gary wanted to play regularly somewhere and Bolton gave him that chance."