Fabian Delph - Signed for Manchester City

[Dave]

Well lets just say £12m-£16m then.

I think he realises that £8m is very low so if he wants to keep his options open fair enough but 8m is no longer fair to us, the club he chose to stay with.

I meant that it's about a third of his market value rather than half - the current England midfield seems to be Henderson, Delph and Wilshere. If somebody tried to buy either of the other two then there wouldn't be any change from £25m, so I'd expect Delph to not be a million miles from that.

As for the second point, sometimes things aren't fair. Hopefully the club see it as a cautionary tale about not waiting for such a long time before offering new contracts to our better players. Like I say, if things go badly for him then he has an out and if they don't then it doesn't matter how much the release clause is because he stays with us.

But if it was only as a precautionary clause because of relegation then once we avoided it the clause would have become redundant. it wasn't so no matter what has happened he is still holding a ridiculously low release clause over our heads

It still might happen. We could go down next season. Sherwood could turn out to be a two-bit chancer who messes the club up even worse than the last lot. This way he has options.

I completely get that Delph's contract situation benefits him far more than it does the club. What I don't get is why it would be in his interests to even think about having it removed. What would be the point?

The only way it would happen is with another new contract and a substantial pay rise.

Well quite.

And if the clause is only going to be removed if we pay him another say, ten grand per week, does it really matter - if any higher transfer fee that we get is just going towards paying for the player's improved contract?

[Dante Lavelli]

I dunno if a "substantial" pairs is necessary; at such a low value Delph is going to have to deal with a whole heap more media speculation and uncertainty before and during every transfer window.  He does not strike me a bloke that seeks attention or wants to be a celebrity, therefore I think there is the opportunity to raise the sell on clause and therefore provide him with some peace and security.  Without doubt this would involve a payrise but not necessarily anything crazy.

[paul_e]

but again, given we have no idea of the details of the clause it could be something we don't need to worry about anyway.  Maybe it says he could talk to CL club this summer (i.e. the ones that had already made contact about a bosman move).

[VinnieChase84]

Betting on Delphs future has been opened back up today. Mental

[dave.woodhall]

Betting on Delphs future has been opened back up today. Mental

There's always someone who wants to lose a few quid.

[placeforparks]

pictures of delph arriving at city for a medical on twitter....

[Malandro]

pictures of delph arriving at city for a medical on twitter....

or he's going to see his pregnant wife

[Andy1874]

Appears to be the same hospital Sterling was pictured leaving the other day aswell ..

This had best have been from last week!

Otherwise what a massive piss take

[TimTheVillain]

Appears to be the same hospital Sterling was pictured leaving the other day aswell ..

This had best have been from last week!

Otherwise what a massive piss take

Got to be.

[placeforparks]

tbf it's a great wind-up!

[wozwebs]

FFS

[VinnieChase84]

Manchester journo tweeting it's back on. What the actual fuck. Never a dull day being a villa fan ffs

[wozwebs]

Manchester Evening News reporter: Confirmed City move for Delph is back on

[wozwebs]

Photo is definitely him, one posted of Sterling also at same venue. Imagine Sherwood's face now!

[David_Nab]

WTF this is madness if true