O'Neill denies Shaun unrest

Sep 14 2007 By Nick Davis, Birmingham Mail

MARTIN O'Neill has urged homesick star Shaun Maloney to knuckle down and make a success of his Premier League move.

And O'Neill has laughed off reports the former Celtic man was on the verge of a return to Parkhead ahead of last month's transfer deadline.

The Villa manager's comments come after Maloney told the Scottish press he was still struggling to adapt to life south of the border.

The 24-year-old, who can play in midfield or up front has made just five League starts since joining Villa in a £1million move in January.

He has made no secret of the fact he is finding it hard to settle.

Reports in Scotland claimed Maloney was on minutes away from a return to Celtic before a last-minute hitch scuppered the move.

But O'Neill hit back: "That's absolutely not true - I've never received a phone call from Celtic about Shaun Maloney, ever.

"I don't know where it came from. But I understand the story doesn't read so great if it doesn't happen.

"The stories were mentioned to me on Monday and I saw the comments attributed to Shaun.

"It's absolutely no different to what he has already said to me.

"I'm not here to imprison anybody, but by the same token, people sign contracts and for the most part, unless they've been really hard done by, they have to abide by these things."

Maloney is expected to find himself on the bench again for Sunday's trip to Manchester City and the Villa boss added: "Shaun's done very well and I've been very pleased with him.

"He could easily have started against Chelsea after his efforts in first scoring the winner against Fulham, and then being our best player against Wrexham.

"Isaiah Osbourne was our next best player on a night when Gareth Barry played left-back, and yet Isaiah didn't make the 16 against Chelsea.

"So we'll monitor all these situations. I don't want life to be intolerable for people but this is professional football, and it's far from intolerable."