Fabian Delph - Signed for Manchester City

[LeeB]

Delph, Whelan, Lansbury or Jedinak?

Delph over all three together.

[saunders_heroes]

Delph, Whelan, Lansbury or Jedinak?

Delph over all three together.

Same here. The only problem with Delph was his injury problems.

[PeterWithesShin]

Only Benteke has been better than Delph as a Villa player the last 5 or 6 years, Kod is doing well but it's against crap division 2 sides. Zero chance he'll be coming back in the foreseeable future though, outside of the 'top' six sides he'd start for anyone else in the top flight.

Regarding his injuries, he seems one of those players that suffers injuries when he's in and out of sides, once he's starting on a regular basis he's fine. After breaking back properly into our starting 11 New Year 2013 he played 76 of 94 league games, a lot of which were one injury, which is probably about average for a top flight central midfielder that gets stuck in.

[Ad@m]

There's a fair amount of revisionism here over Delph.

He was at the Villa for six years - for three and a half of them he barely played.  He only really looked good in his final two seasons in the worst Villa team in living memory.

Even if you only go back to when football was invented in 1992 he'd struggle to get in to the top 20 best Villa midfielders we've had.

[PeterWithesShin]

You could say the same for Laursen, here for 5 years and played well for a year and a half, doesn't change that he was very good during that time. Delph was very good for 2 years, Downing for 1 and so on. For me the revisionism is more down playing how good he was during that spell because of how he left and because he was surrounded by crap-mediocre players so as a team we were shite. Those 2 years he carried our midfield as his teammates were mainly KEA, Westwood, Sanchez and Cleverley. You'd probably struggle to pull 10 decent games during those 2 years from those 4 combined.

[Ad@m]

I don't disagree with you completely on Laursen but he definitely had something different about him.  We don't sign many players from AC Milan, demonstrating his credibility and he carried a genuine goal threat, something we haven't really seen from a defender for years.

That said, he probably struggles to get in to the top 10 Villa defenders for me since the early 90s, behind the likes of McGrath (obviously), Southgate, Ehiogu, et al.  I'd even put the likes of Staunton and Alan Wright above him in terms of their contribution to the club.

[Mister E]

There's a fair amount of revisionism here over Delph.

He was at the Villa for six years - for three and a half of them he barely played.  He only really looked good in his final two seasons in the worst Villa team in living memory.

Delph is another Villa player who largely failed to live up to his undoubted talent. I always felt that there was a really good player there and - indeed - he showed it for a while. My view was - and still is - that he'd have made an excellent left wingback or attacking fullback, and I could quite easily see him and Elmo being two really good attacking fullbacks for us ... not that he's coming back.

[Matt Collins]

I thought Delph was outstanding the last two years with us

Not Milner level, but better than most this century

[olaftab]

Delph, Whelan, Lansbury or Jedinak?

This is like comparing compost with manure.

[Damo70]

Good player. Cost a lot. Terrible luck with injuries. Had one decent season. Couldn't hit a cow's arse with a banjo shooting wise. Was leaving, wasn't leaving, went. Hasn't pulled up many trees at City, and will probably be at Everton or Palace in the next year or two. Not convinced he will win many more England caps. Not convinced why we talk about him so much.

[Toronto Villa]

It’s not that he left. It’s the manner in which he did it. That will always be a sticking point. His quality is undeniable and he’s much better than anything we have today. But he’s not coming back and despite his quality I wouldn’t want him back.

[Smirker]

I'd take him back.

[ktvillan]

Delph is and was a cracking player, along with Benteke one of the few bright spots in a half decade of misery.  His early years with us were blighted because of injury, youthful impetuousness and O'Neill not knowing what to do with him.  Once he established himself I thought he showed he was a class act.  As for the way he left, well I think a lot of people are acting like immature jilted boyfriends over that one and it's quite sad and amusing at the same time.  In any case it seems Villa pretty much forced him out to get him off the payroll, so quite why people have such a downer on him is a mystery to me.  I'd love to get him and Benteke back if we ever get back up, maybe Albrighton at a push, but Westwood and Cleverly can fuck off.

[PeterWithesShin]

His goals against the Bitters, twice, and at Wembley still make my tummy tickle.

[LeeB]

Delph is and was a cracking player, along with Benteke one of the few bright spots in a half decade of misery.  His early years with us were blighted because of injury, youthful impetuousness and O'Neill not knowing what to do with him.  Once he established himself I thought he showed he was a class act.  As for the way he left, well I think a lot of people are acting like immature jilted boyfriends over that one and it's quite sad and amusing at the same time.  In any case it seems Villa pretty much forced him out to get him off the payroll, so quite why people have such a downer on him is a mystery to me.  I'd love to get him and Benteke back if we ever get back up, maybe Albrighton at a push, but Westwood and Cleverly can fuck off.

Amen.