Fabian Delph - Signed for Manchester City

[villan from luton]

That's the thing. This home grown thing is going pears up, like most of their plans

[Phil from the upper holte]

Fuck football is shit these days when a club can be raped  of their players just so another club can fill it's own grown quota. Another well intended idea that is shafting all but the richest clubs up the.....

It sucks, if city are going to try and sign Sterling for £50m who are they selling to meet ffp quota?

[Do u want 2bet against us]

I just feel Delph may fall flat on his face if he moves to Citeh.   He's made it into the England set up wearing a Villa shirt, he's captain of a great club and he's ready to throw it all away.   How many careers have already been put back by moving to a club like Citeh?

[villan from luton]

Are we sure he wants to leave yet though? Have to admit his body language in the Burnley game was poor IMO and mentioned it to my lad and mate who were at game with me. However, Richards is apparently a good mate of his and another good signing today, things may be on the up with a takeover (though I know he feels Lerner supported him massively with his injuries), maybe we may keep him

[Villa in Denmark]

I'm pretty sure he signed that deal so we'd get something for him. I'm also petty sure he'll leave, it's sad but inevitable

If that were the case it's a shame they didn't raise the price a bit particularly knowing the new TV millions was kicking in. £8m quite frankly is a paltry amount.

It is £8m more than feck all though

True. But why not stick £15m in ?

Because £8M was what Delph / agent were prepared to let be written into the contract?

The conversation would have been along the lines of

Fox: Well put a £15M release clause in so that there's an easy exit if someone like Man City show an interest.

Agent: Make it £8M or my boy walks for nothing at the end of the season.

[Dave]

I've read a few people saying delph should look at Sinclair and rodwell.

He should look at Barry and Milner. Both England central midfielders. I docubt either regretted leaving. I think delph could genuinely be as good as Barry. Not Milner though.

Agree with this.  Ive no problem with Delph leaving for a better club who are better placed to win things.  He has to do whats right for himself.

I am sorry but I am still a believer in a player honouring his contract unless the club does not perform as expected from the time of signing the contract.  At which time (say 2 years into a 4 year contract), you request a transfer and the club gets the market value for the player.

Obviously it does not happen like this but it does not stop me thinking less of a player if he holds the club to ransom and the club gets less than they should in a transfer.  I hate Bosman for setting in motion what football has become today.

Fine, so if Delph sees out the contract that he was on, didn't sign a new one in January and left on a free transfer this summer then you could surely have no complaints?

He has stuck to the exact terms of his contract, and we can have no complaints about his conduct.

The Bosman ruling isn't perfect, but it's hundreds of times better than what preceded it.

[OCD]

If you're going to believe the tabloids, the original story was that City had Delph lined up in case they couldn't sign Pogba. Today there was a story that UEFA had relaxed it's own FFP rules which would allow City to pay what Juventus will demand for Pogba. In that case, that should be good news for us.

It would be good if we have some wealthy owners coming in who could get everyone excited and offer Delph a new contract (if there is a release clause, which we still don't know for sure).

[KRS]

Hang on a minute...is there any evidence that City have even made an approach apart from some rumour with no credibility? Why is everyone on here acting as if he's already packed his bags and half way up the M6?

[villan from luton]

Lets hope the thing re Pogba is true, even if it isn't I still cant believe Delph will want to be used as an English pawn for the home grown thing as is unlikely to play loads of games for them

[silhillvilla]

My biggest fear on Delphi is those tramps on merseyside . Whilst seeing him sat in a tracksuit on Ci£y bench would be far from ideal, seeing him in that red kit with a black armband every other game would boil my pishhh.

[villan from luton]

My biggest fear on Delphi is those tramps on merseyside . Whilst seeing him sat in a tracksuit on Ci£y bench would be far from ideal, seeing him in that red kit with a black armband every other game would boil my pishhh.

I thought the rumour was the club had to be in Europe?

[ozzjim]

Can't we just keep him for 12 more months, then let him go with our blessing if we are not moving forward.

[silhillvilla]

Can't we just keep him for 12 more months, then let him go with our blessing if we are not moving forward.

That's what I think 100%.

[Steve R]

The odd thing is, out of Villa, ManCity and Liverpool, Villa came closest to winning a trophy last season.

If Delph goes to ManCity he is 90% certain to be going there to retire from regular football in return for a larger sum of money. He isn't going to displace their regular central midfielders and even allowing for a player's innate self confidence he will know that. He may find himself playing on the wing or full back every now and then in the league he may get the odd CL group game or domestic cup spot. The medals he will undoubtedly get will be accrued largely on the back of the efforts of colleagues.

Is any City supporter reflecting on the distance they were behind Chelsea in the league last year or the gulf in class when they played Barca and thought 'if only we had Fabian Delph'.

It's not a trade I would advise him to make, especially at 25, but it's his life and if he goes he goes. We've lost better players before in worse circumstances. We're still here.

[Percy McCarthy]

The best and most heart-warming thing he said when he signed his new contract for us was him saying to his missus 'You realise this means our baby will be a Brummie' and saying he was pleased about that.

I will be a bit sad if it transpires that it was bullshit PR bollocks.