Goodbye and good luck Shaun

Shaun Maloney has put an end to the speculation and completed a return to his former club; Celtic. Maloney was bought by Martin O’Neill right as the deadline was approaching on the transfer window on 31 Jan 07. Unfortunately Maloney struggled to make regular appearances for Villa and ended his spell with us today.

As a business move, it looks for all the world like Martin O’Neill has been extremely shrewd with Maloney, having bought him for £1 million and now selling him for £2.5 million after a spell which you would have more likely expected to have devalued the player.

Martin O’Neill expressed his regret at Shaun’s departure but he clearly wishes to see the lad do well for himself, as he has let him leave. Maloney never settled in the West Midlands (I can sympathise with that, I live there!) and it seemed to affect his game, where he failed to make the impression that Villa fans were hoping for when he arrived. At times Maloney has shown flashes of the player he can be but hasn’t managed to maintain the consistency that he showed in his last 18 months with Celtic.

Maloney was awarded both the SPFA Player of the Year and Young Player of the Year awards whilst at Celtic and was a firm favourite with the Parkhead faithful. His best season saw him score 16 times and also assist 28 goals, a very impressive tally.

I, and I imagine most Villa fans, now wish him well back at Celtic and hope he can be happy and find the form we know he’s capable of. Good luck Shauny.

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Category: Team News

Tags: Aston Villa, Celtic, Gordon Strachan, Parkhead, Premiership, SPL

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