Aston Villa offer Stiliyan Petrov non-playing role at the club

The 37-year-old retired from football in 2012 after being diagnosed with leukaemia, but recently tried to make a comeback with former club Aston Villa. 

Petrov took part in the club's pre-season and even managed to play a part in some friendlies for Aston Villa, but the club have decided to offer their former skipper a non-playing role. 

Villa manager Roberto Di Matteo released the following statement: “Stiliyan is an inspiration to all of us. I have spoken to him and explained my thoughts and offered him the chance to remain at the club. Stiliyan is going to discuss this with his family before coming back to us". 

It is a great shame that Petrov will not make a playing comeback for Aston Villa, but I think we can all agree that it would still be great to see him back in football in some capacity.