Tommy Gemmell: Aiden still has to prove his worth

Tommy Gemmell believes Aiden McGeady still has  a lot to prove before any English Premier League club would be willing to meet the value put on his skills by Spartak Moscow. The Celtic midfielder is said to be in Frankfurt for a medical before he completes his lucrative £9.5million 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 the Lisbon Lion insists the former Bhoys youth player has to show he can make the step up from Scottish football. 

Gemmell said: "Peter Lawwell (Celtic chief executive) has done a great job getting almost £10million from Spartak. 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 joked that the wages McGeady looks set to enjoy - reportedly £40,000 per week - would help soften the blow of any difficulties he encounters 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."