Stiliyan Petrov announced his return to action after he was included in Aston Villa's pre-season squad, and Roberto Di Matteo has been impressed by him so far.
After suffering relegation to the championship, Villa are gearing for life in England's second tier with a pre-season camp in Austria and new boss Villa manager has included the 37-year-old Bulgarian as he hopes for a contract with the club.
The former skipped is bidding to return where he belongs as he proves his fitness. Petrov played 45 minutes of Villa's 8-0 win over GAC 1902 over the weekend, and could be line to feature in one of two further pre-season games against AFC Telford or Worcester City. Speaking to the clubs official website, Di Matteo said;
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"Stiliyan is an example of willingness and bravery to everybody that is here. He has come into pre-season and not missed one minute. You can see how hard he is working in training. Then there's the story he has gone through in the past. It's a remarkable journey for him. I have already told him that he is really an example for all of us. He is a fantastic person to have within the group."
The ex-Chelsea player and manager will most likely assess the contact situation after pre-season but is clearly in awe of his attitude, continuing to add;
"He's a very cheerful man, very positive, works hard, always tries his best. He is very committed and very dedicated. I can see why he was a favourite and the captain. Stiliyan has hit very good standards. As I said, he's not missed one minute. He's hanging in there. He's doing very well. It's quite impressive."
Let's hope his hard work ultimately gets him that contract.
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