O'Neill Holds No Cahill Regrets
Posted: Friday 6th November 2009
Aston Villa boss Martin O'Neill insists he holds no regrets about selling Gary Cahill to Bolton.
Cahill swapped Villa Park for the Reebok Stadium in January 2008 after Wanderers agreed a £5million fee with the Midlands side.
However, despite seeing the player come close to international recognition with England, O'Neill says he does not regret losing the 23-year-old.
"Have I any regrets that Cahill left? No," said O'Neill.
"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."
Cahill will return to his former club on Saturday afternoon when Bolton face Villa in the league.