Stiliyan Petrov has admitted he would be "honoured" if offered the Aston Villa captaincy by manager Martin O'Neill.
The Bulgaria international is a strong candidate to replace retired skipper Martin Laursen and stand-in captain Gareth Barry who has made the £12 million switch to Manchester City.
Petrov said: "The captaincy of Aston Villa is a great honour. It's a great club and one with a long tradition and fantastic history. It's great to be a captain and to lead the team out. People say that the captaincy doesn't make a difference, but it certainly does."
Petrov also believes his renaissance with Bulgaria in recent months has had a positive influence on his form with Villa.
His international career looked over after he had a fall-out with previous Bulgarian coach Hristo Stoichkov but it has blossomed again under Stanimir Stoilov.
He said: "I went through a very hard time in the national team. There were a few hard months, I retired. That definitely affected my form and my concentration and I'm happy everything is going well now.
"I play a deeper role now. We have a new manager, we play a different system. It has definitely had a positive effect on my club form.
"I'm playing in the best and hardest league in the world and fighting to achieve something to be proud of, with and against the best players. You can't ask for anything more."




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Probably the maturist player of a young team making him captain could be a good idea hes played for a number of years now at villa isn't he the Bulgaria captain? so it wouldn't be to big a job for him.
looks like villa are in for owen
no captancy for for mr stiliyon i hope milner i think
Petrov you are a great pro good luck for next season. Come on o'neil when are you gonna sign some players .How about signing up Diego Forlan from the spanish la liga he has banged in more than 30 goals in the last two seasons great finisher.?
Fantastic passer of the ball and showed real quality last season, even towards the end when just about everyone was playing as if they were on the beach!
i agree elmo, he was our best player last season and he bosses the midfield so give him the captains armband
Petrov had a great season, showing great maturity and ability to dominate midfield. I think his leadership potential is probably peaking about now, so why not make him captain?
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