Gemmell: McGeady must prove his worth

Lisbon Lion Tommy Gemmell believes Aiden McGeady still has to prove to the Barclays Premier League that he is worth the sort of fee Spartak Moscow will fork out to take him to Russia.

The Celtic midfielder is reportedly in Frankfurt for a medical before he completes his lucrative £9.5m move to the Russian club.

However, the common belief is that McGeady, 24, would have preferred a move to the English Premier League and the Republic of Ireland star was linked with his former Parkhead boss Martin O’Neill before he quit Aston Villa on Monday.

But Gemmell, at Parkhead to publicise the club’s free online archive of Celtic action and history which is now available via their website, insists the former Bhoys youth player has to show he can make the step up from Scottish football.

“Peter Lawwell (Celtic chief executive) has done a great job getting almost £10m from Spartak,” Gemmell said.

“I get the impression Aiden was holding off to see if he could get a club in England.

“But with the size of the transfer fee, I don’t think there would be a team in England who would be interested in paying that for Aiden McGeady.

“The way I look at it is he (O’Neill) wanted to sign Aiden McGeady and I don’t think Villa wanted to go above the £5million limit.

“Aiden has got to go to Moscow and prove himself.

“If you don’t do the business, there is nobody interested in you.

“He is still improving. He has a lot of things to prove to the football world and a lot of improvement to make in his own game.

“He has to gel with the players around him, which sometimes didn’t happen at Celtic.”

Gemmell, who played in two European Cup finals for the Hoops, joked that the massive wages McGeady is set to enjoy – reportedly £40,000 per week – would help him overcome any difficulties in Moscow.

He said: “It’s a tremendous deal for Aiden but it will be difficult for him to fit in to the Russian environment.

“But I’m quite sure with the small basic wage he’ll be getting, he will manage it okay.”