Reptile fan Carlos Cuellar has sights firmly set on Aston Villa glory

Sep 15 2008 By Andy Walker

SPANIARD Carlos Cuellar is looking to scale new heights with Villa – after being forced to give up his serpentine soulmate.

After rattling up a clutch of gongs during his debut season with Scottish giants Rangers, Cuellar was snapped up by Villa boss Martin O’Neill last month and the 27-year-old is now aiming to adder more footballing achievements to his CV.

Cuellar has recovered from a calf injury to come through two reserves games for Villa and is now ready to give Premier League opposition forwards the slip, starting with a possible debut at White Hart Lane tomorrow night.

The centre-back fangs Rangers for giving him his break in British football but that’s all hiss-tory for Cuellar – just like his beloved pet boa constrictor.

While most people opt for fluffy friends as pets, Cuellar was kept company by a two-foot long snake called Titan when he lived in Spain.

Exotic

The ex-Osasuna stopper was first given his spineless chum as a present from his mother and sister during his spell with La Liga new-boys Numancia.

Prior to joining Rangers last summer, the exotic animal-fan admitted that “sociable” Titan was like a brother to him and that they even used to sit down and watch the highlights of football games together.

However during an interview with Mercury Sport, Cuellar admitted that Titan is no longer in his life because British customs laws forced him to leave the python in Spain.

“I used to have Titan the snake but not anymore,” revealed Cuellar. “I had him before I came to Britain for many years, he’s back in Spain and my friend looks after him now so I can’t tell you anything more about him.

“It was very difficult to bring him over to this country. I haven’t got any pets here in England at the moment.

“I also have a bulldog back in Spain but my mother has him now. I’m not planning on having any exotic pets while I’m over here in England.”

Cuellar is hoping that his move to Villa, and more significantly the Premier League, will help him earn a first cap with Spain.

The defender watched his home nation see off Germany in the final of Euro 2008 while among family and friends in Madrid but Cuellar wishes he had been involved on the field in Vienna.

Now that Cuellar sees a spell in the English top flight as the perfect opportunity to catch the eye of new Spain boss Vicente del Bosque but he could have tasted Premier League life long before now had a move to Leeds United not fell through at the eleventh hour.

Cuellar, who started his career with Calahorra, went on trial with then-top flight Leeds in 2003 as a 21-year-old while playing for Numancia.

After impressing Peter Reid at Elland Road, Cuellar was set to sign for Leeds until AC Milan’s decision to let Brazilian Roque Junior out on loan shattered his dream of playing English football.

“Everything was sorted with Leeds and then Milan told them that they would let Roque Junior join them for free,” he said. “They had to pay a fee for me so they went for Roque Junior because he was an international player from Brazil, I was just playing in the second division in Spain.

“When I came to Leeds the gaffer told me that he had no money to have me as well because the chairman wanted Roque Junior. It was OK though because when I went back to Spain I moved to Osasuna in La Liga.

Favourite

“I didn’t feel good at the time but when they were offered a free international player it was easy for me to understand why they had taken that decision.”

Cuellar was a huge favourite during his time at Ibrox with some sterling performances at the back and there were protests from supporters when Villa released a clause in his Rangers contract to bring him south of the border for £7.8 million.

However the modest Madrid-born star refuses to give his new fans a taster of what to expect because he would sooner let the Villa Park faithful make their own minds up about him.

“I don’t know how to describe what type of player I am, I find it difficult but I suppose I would be classed as a hard-man. I prefer for people to watch me play the game and then they can say ‘he plays like this or that’.

“It’s better for other people to make their own decisions about me.”