Hadji's relief at Villa exit

Mustapha Hadji has spoken of his relief at ending his Aston Villa nightmare after completing a free transfer move to Espanyol before the closure of the transfer window.

Hadji, who has been training recently with the youth side, became the 11th player to part company with Villa since David O’Leary took charge nine moths ago.

The former African footballer of the year made a quickfire impact after moving to Villa from Coventry for £4m (€5.9m) in the summer of 2001.

But he had only had a bit part to play under John Gregory’s successor Graham Taylor and little involvement at all since O’Leary arrived in May.

Hadji, who said goodbye to his Villa team-mates today, said: “It feels such a relief to get this move and I am absolutely delighted.

“It gives me a chance to play again after so long on the sidelines, and that’s all I ever wanted.

“It is sad what happened at Villa. I never wanted to leave and it has been a very frustrating time for me.

“I’d just like thank the people who stood by me, and that particularly includes the fans who have always been behind me and made me feel welcome.

“I honestly don’t know what was wrong. That’s for the manager to answer, but I’ve not been happy because I love to play and I really cannot explain why I was not picked.

“But I have never lost belief in my ability. It has been hard but I always knew that one day things would turn and hopefully things can now change for the better.”

Meanwhile midfielder Lee Hendrie could be back in contention for Saturday’s home Premiership clash with Leeds after returning to training a fortnight ahead of schedule.

Hendrie suffered a groin injury in the second leg of the Carling Cup semi-final with Bolton a week ago and O’Leary expected him to be side-lined for three to four weeks.

But he has made a rapid recovery – and a timely one with Gavin McCann and Peter Whittingham both suspended at the weekend.