Fabian Delph - Signed for Manchester City

[KevinGage]

Him signing for us again in the earlier part of the year was the one bit of good news that came out of the club for a long, long time.

That -and ditching Lambert soon after- gave us the fillip we needed to stay up.

So if he goes now, and we get £8 million + into the bargain, so be it.

A few months ago, we faced the very real prospect of going down and him walking away for nothing.

I like to think the best of people, so I'd like to think he was at least somewhat sincere about loving the club and being proud to be captain.  Having a release clause makes good business sense though too (to him).  He needed to cover himself.

If Liverpool or Tottingham (the main clubs linked with him back then) were the only ones interested now, there's still a reasonable chance he might have stayed.   But if he has a chance to go to a side who are going for the league and are pretty much nailed on to get top 4 most seasons now, he'd be mad not to look at it.

[taylorsworkrate]

It does make a mockery of Fabians supposed loyalty. He basically signed a contract that was meaningless. 8 mill is comfortably below half of his market value.

I don't mind players looking out for their own interests, but don't come all the guff about loyalty and loving the club.

I would like to think that we at least tried to double the release clause.

[He wears a magic hat]

But his market value back in January was zero. Signing a contract gives up a fee. He needn't have done that

[OCD]

Wasn't the idea that Fabian felt he owed Lerner from how he treated him in the first couple of years of his contract and that he couldn't just walk away on a free after that. So signing a new contract with a release clause that would be triggered with a bid of £xm being the solution.

[Toronto Villa]

Wasn't the idea that Fabian felt he owed Lerner from how he treated him in the first couple of years of his contract and that he couldn't just walk away on a free after that. So signing a new contract with a release clause that would be triggered with a bid of £xm being the solution.

That's fine. But the club getting £8m or even £10m is still a very low valuation. Why not £15m which would be more palatable and still below his value. But it's more all of the gushing love after he signed. It will be ring quite hollow if at the first bid meeting the buy out clause he leaves.

[mr underhill]

shit happens - and in this case it's yet to happen. But if it does, it's just grist to the mill. How many of us have made slightly disingenuous statements in the past by way of pacification? Christ it's only football, it's not as if he'd be committing some heinous crime.

[Tom_Mc9?]

I agree mr underhill. Who bloody cares what he said when he signed the contract? For what it's worth, I think a lot of it rings true whether he signs for City or not: I think he genuinely does love playing for Villa.

[Toronto Villa]

shit happens - and in this case it's yet to happen. But if it does, it's just grist to the mill. How many of us have made slightly disingenuous statements in the past by way of pacification? Christ it's only football, it's not as if he'd be committing some heinous crime.

You're getting carried away. Nobody is calling him a criminal and if he goes he goes. You're on a football forum so the potential sale of our club captain is being discussed. People are going to have an opinion and especially given how important his new contract was received by all of us at the time. As someone said earlier, it was the one the bit of really good news at a time when everything was terrible.

In the grand scheme of the world it isn't a big deal. In the grand scheme of all things Aston Villa it is. And if it happens we will all move on.

[dave.woodhall]

Wasn't the idea that Fabian felt he owed Lerner from how he treated him in the first couple of years of his contract and that he couldn't just walk away on a free after that. So signing a new contract with a release clause that would be triggered with a bid of £xm being the solution.

That's fine. But the club getting £8m or even £10m is still a very low valuation. Why not £15m which would be more palatable and still below his value. But it's more all of the gushing love after he signed. It will be ring quite hollow if at the first bid meeting the buy out clause he leaves.

In January he held all the cards. Most players would have held out and walked for nothing; this way we get some money at least - probably half his true value, which is a compromise of sorts.

[chrisw1]

It does make a mockery of Fabians supposed loyalty. He basically signed a contract that was meaningless. 8 mill is comfortably below half of his market value.

I don't mind players looking out for their own interests, but don't come all the guff about loyalty and loving the club.

I would like to think that we at least tried to double the release clause.

It wasn't meaningless.  It got us £8m that we wouldn't have got otherwise.  How hard is this to comprehend?

[taylorsworkrate]

It was meaningless in terms of his desire to actually s stay at the club.

He basically signed what amounted (for him) to a rolling week to week deal at improved terms.

I am of course more than willimg to be proven wrong by his actions over the upcoming days

[Edvard Remberg]

Wasn't the idea that Fabian felt he owed Lerner from how he treated him in the first couple of years of his contract and that he couldn't just walk away on a free after that. So signing a new contract with a release clause that would be triggered with a bid of £xm being the solution.

That's fine. But the club getting £8m or even £10m is still a very low valuation. Why not £15m which would be more palatable and still below his value. But it's more all of the gushing love after he signed. It will be ring quite hollow if at the first bid meeting the buy out clause he leaves.

In January he held all the cards. Most players would have held out and walked for nothing; this way we get some money at least - probably half his true value, which is a compromise of sorts.

If this is true (that he has a 8M clause), then it was purely a thank you to Villa, and help finding his replacement. Again, if this was the scenario, then Man City was probably already sorted, as he knows 8M wouldn't affect them

[Tom_Mc9?]

It was meaningless in terms of his desire to actually s stay at the club.

He basically signed what amounted (for him) to a rolling week to week deal at improved terms.

I am of course more than willimg to be proven wrong by his actions over the upcoming days

Better for him; better for us. Everyone's a winner(ish)

[OCD]

Regarding Delph's comments after the contract signing, 1) there's just talk at the moment, there's not even been confirmation that the clause exists; 2) his contract signing and attitude following were huge factors in keeping us up; 3) Is it not possible for his comments to have been genuine but also have a desire to test himself at the highest levels and see what he can achieve?

[chrisw1]

Regarding Delph's comments after the contract signing, 1) there's just talk at the moment, there's not even been confirmation that the clause exists; 2) his contract signing and attitude following were huge factors in keeping us up; 3) Is it not possible for his comments to have been genuine but also have a desire to test himself at the highest levels and see what he can achieve?

Exactly.