Aston Villa and former Liverpool and Blackburn Rovers stopper Brad Friedel has been declared bankrupt after racking up debts at his US football academy. The big American owes the backer of his Ohio-based academy almost £5million, prompting a hearing at a county court in Britain.

A judge at Macclesfield County Court declared Friedel bankrupt after representations from bank RBS Citizens.

However, a source close to Friedel labelled the bankruptcy order a 'technicality' and said it would be annulled at a further hearing next week.

The former USA international is expected to repay the £5million, appeasing RBS Citizens, the American subsidiary of the government-owned British bank.

The source said: "This debt will be repaid soon and then we expect an annulment.

"In the meantime, Brad is not insolvent and is not struggling with money." In 2006, he began work on a £4.2million state-of-the-art football academy in Cleveland, Ohio, which opened a year later.

The academy is run on a not-for-profit basis and is designed to offer under-privileged youngsters opportunities within the game.