Aston Villa captain Martin Laursen says Gary Cahill's success at Bolton Wanderers justifies his decision to quit Villa Park almost a year ago.

"He's a good centre-half, we could see that here, so I'm not surprised that he's doing well for Bolton," Laursen told the Birmingham Mail.

"He's strong, tall, good in the air, okay with the ball and I think he's got a good attitude as well which is important for him. I played alongside him a few times.''

Villa fans questioned the wisdom of allowing the England Under-21 international to leave to join a top-flight rival for around £5million in January.

But Laursen believes it was proved the correct decision for both parties as Villa now boast a centre-back contingent of himself, Curtis Davies, Carlos Cuellar and Zat Knight.

"I think he was struggling to play here so if a Premier League club wants him and he can see that he's got better possibilities to play there than here then it was the right thing for him to do,'' said Laursen.

"You can see that now that it was the right thing for him to go elsewhere because he's playing and playing well, so it's good for him.

"We have very good centre-halves here so that's not a problem."