Villa rebel Patrik Berger has apologised for his walkout – but could still spend his last few months of his contract away from the club.

The former Liverpool midfielder was suspended from the training ground and fined two weeks’ wages for refusing to play in a reserve game against Tottenham on November 29.

He was farmed out on loan to Stoke, who want to sign the 33-year-old permanently.

Berger, who scored a spectacular opener in the reserves’ 2-2 draw against his last club Portsmouth last night, is also attracting interest from the continent.

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Villa rebel Patrik Berger has apologised for his walkout – but could still spend his last few months of his contract away from the club.

The former Liverpool midfielder was suspended from the training ground and fined two weeks’ wages for refusing to play in a reserve game against Tottenham on November 29.

He was farmed out on loan to Stoke, who want to sign the 33-year-old permanently.

Berger, who scored a spectacular opener in the reserves’ 2-2 draw against his last club Portsmouth last night, is also attracting interest from the continent.But the 33-year-old is back at Villa for the moment and manager Martin O’Neill has forgiven him.

“Berger’s back here now, and has apologised for what happened,” said O’Neill.

“His agent said there was a possibility of him going abroad for the last few months, and if that materialises, then fine.

“If not, he just gets his head down here. The team gets picked on merit – and if he’s doing well enough, he’ll be in contention.

“His concern was I’d said he’ll ‘never kick another ball for this club’. I told him I never said that and if I had, I’d have said it to him first.”

Meanwhile, new boy Phil Bardsley insists he’s ready to drag Villa out of their worst run for 20 years. Villa go into Saturday’s clash against Watford without a win in 11 league games – their worst since 1986-87 when they were relegated.

The on-loan Manchester United full-back made his debut in last night’s reserve game, playing the full 90 minutes with Lee Hendrie and Berger.

He said: “It’s a massive game for us and we have to stand up and be counted.

“We’ve not won for a while now and we need to put that right against Watford.”

Villa have rubbished reports that they are set to sign £2.3m Polish striker Radoslaw Matusiak from GKS Belchatow.

O’Neill has had the player watched, but would only give him a trial.