Villa agree £7.8m fee to sign defender Cuellar from Rangers

defender Carlos Cuellar is poised to become latest summer signing after the two clubs agreed a £7.8million fee on Monday night, which invoked the release clause in the Spaniard's contract.

Villa will now discuss terms with the 26-year-old but Rangers have gone a step further to claim the move was as good as complete, subject to a medical.

Cuellar, who was outstanding for Rangers after joining the Scottish club from Osasuna last season, expressed a desire to leave Ibrox last weekend.

His decision is a huge blow to the Scottish club, coming just a week after a
humiliating early exit from the Champions League at the qualifying stages.

Cuellar was instrumental in Rangers' run to the UEFA Cup final last season and was named Scottish Football Writers player of the year.

Rangers revealed they offered the player a substantially improved contract but it was declined due to his desire to move to the Premier League.

Cuellar told the Rangers website: 'My ambition has always been to play for my national team and I believe that playing in the biggest league in the world for Aston Villa will help me realise that.

'When I told Martin Bain on Sunday that I wanted to leave, I did so with sadness. The Rangers supporters have been fantastic to me, but I am young and want to play at the highest level and I hope they will always welcome me back. I want to thank them for everything.'

Cuellar is set to become Villa's seventh signing of the summer following Curtis
Davies, Steve Sidwell, Luke Young, Nicky Shorey, Brad Friedel and Brad Guzan.

Rangers manager Walter Smith said: 'This has come as a surprise and I am disappointed. Carlos Cuellar has been a great player for the football club and inevitably there has been speculation about him playing in the Premiership.

'The club has received a substantial uplift in fee and we will now reinvest in the team.'

Fans' chief David Edgar has called on Rangers to quickly reinvest the Cuellar
money and admitted his move has compounded the misery of last week's embarrassing and costly loss to Lithuanian minnows FBK Kaunas.

'There is no doubt about it, Carlos was Rangers' best player last season so to lose him is a shattering blow,' Edgar said. 'The Rangers fans will be reeling from this news.

'If it is Carlos' decision then the fans must respect that but it seems to be one thing after another. The money must be invested and invested quickly. We would expect to see signings in the next few days and they must be the right signings or questions
will be asked.

'The start of the season has been a disaster and this has made it worse. We have been knocked out of Europe with the loss of all the money that incurs and now we have lost our best player. Not preparing for the season properly has come back to haunt us.'