STILIYAN PETROV has failed to win a new Aston Villa deal – four years after retiring due to acute leukaemia.
New boss Roberto Di Matteo described the Bulgarian, 37, as an “inspiration” and will offer the midfielder a non-playing role role at the relegated club.
Petrov will now consider other approaches after training with Villa throughout their three weeks of pre-season.
Ex-Chelsea chief Di Matteo told the Birmingham Mail: “Stiliyan is an inspiration. I have spoken to him, explained my thoughts and offered him the chance to remain at the club.”
Doctors told Petrov he would never play again after his cancer diagnosis in 2013 forced him to retire.
But he always insisted he could return, even promising his family he would again wear the Villa shirt of claret and blue one day.
Only last week his wife Paulina described him as a “superdaddy” and “role model”.
She wrote on Instagram: “He told me: ‘I promise you will see me playing for Aston Villa again one day’.
“Daddy never breaks his promises, always telling the boys: ‘Never give up you can achieve anything if you work hard!’
“What better example than showing it yourself. A role model for your kids ‘superdaddy’.”
And Petrov, who became a Villa coach last year, explained: “Before I started my treatment I didn’t know how long it would take to recover.
“I was hoping, sort of convinced myself, it would take a few months and then I’d be back playing soon after.
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“It was the same with my doctor, Professor David Linch, when I mentioned it to him.
“After about five months I really confronted him and demanded an answer. He told me straight that I should come to terms with having to retire.
“I had been in football all my life and after all the things I achieved in my career, it was hard to accept.”
It now seems likely Petrov, capped 105 times, will mull over lower-division offers.
He played 185 games for villa after 228 for Celtic.
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