Maloney: Villa was my mistake

Shaun Maloney claims he knew almost instantly that leaving Celtic for Aston Villa had been a mistake.

The Scotland forward joined Villa in January 2007, after failing to agree a new contract with the Glasgow giants.

After being unable to settle in England, the 25-year-old returned to the Scottish champions for a fee that could rise to £2.5million, according to Villa.

Unveiled at Celtic's Lennoxtown training centre, Maloney was at pains to deny having any regrets but admits he did have misgivings, even when he was completing the move south.

He said: "I just knew at the time I was signing that it wasn't the right decision and something I wasn't 100 per cent sure that I wanted to do,. At the time, I thought it was what I had to do but with hindsight it was not what I wanted.

"Four or five months previously, I really let the contract situation get to me and I just made the wrong decision.

"I didn't handle the pressure of the contract running out and negotiations either not happening or not going very well.

"The closer it got to the end of the contract, I didn't enjoy that. I think my agent at the time did his job. He tried his best to get me the best deal at Celtic but unfortunately the two sides couldn't get together.

"I think I should have made a different decision. If I did it again, I would have taken a more hands-on role with negotiations."

Maloney is glad of the chance to make it up to manager Gordon Strachan, for "letting him down" when he left Parkhead 18 months ago.

He said: "The manager had shown enough faith in me to be a player and that's something I hadn't really had before.

"I think the manager knew when I spoke to him that I was sorry for the way it had ended. I had a feeling of letting him down, as well as some of the staff and obviously the club.

"I think he knows I would have liked it different from the way it actually happened. Now I'll try as hard as anyone to get into his team."