Five reasons Delph is a good City signing
The summer transfer window has seen one of its strangest sagas so far come to an end, with Aston Villa captain Fabian Delph signing a five-year deal with Manchester City, only a week after professing his commitment to the club, having supposedly changed his mind about moving to Eastlands and deciding to stay with The Villans instead.
So, after two surprising u-turns, Delph has finally joined City on a contract until 2020, with the first “Delph 18” shirts coming off the presses as Blues scramble to buy one. This move has been met with unsurprising comments of “new Jack Rodwell” or “new Scott Sinclair”, and while I’m happy to deflect them with replies of ‘injury prone’ and ‘panic buy’ respectively, I won’t stand for the idea Delph isn’t a good signing for City. And here’s five reasons why.
Price
Although a fee hasn’t been disclosed for the 25-year-old midfielder, it’s widely believed that The Blues have paid £8 million for their newest signing, which is just £2 million more than it would have cost to sign him as an unproven Leeds United player six years ago, when City interest was first mooted.
However, while £8 million ensures that if he is a failure (which I’m fairly confident he won’t be) then the financial loss of selling him won’t be huge, it also leaves more money available for further improvements this summer. We’ve already seen City break their transfer record by shelling out £49 million for Raheem Sterling, and if reported targets Kevin De Bruyne and Paul Pogba were to be signed – that won’t happen, but I can dream – that’d likely be another £120 million dropped on players this summer, plus whoever else is brought in by the club. At just £8 million, Delph opens up more funds for those players, and that extra few million could be immensely important.
Age
It’s well documented that City’s squad age is less than youthful, which has been a problem that’s needed sorting for a couple of years, something the management haven’t succeeded in doing. However, many of the players City have been linked with and have signed so far this summer are younger options, including Delph. He may already be 25, and 26 in November, but that ensures City could get a good few years out of him, with his new contract running until he’s 30.
Although, there’s an emphasis on City starting to develop their own talent from the hugely expensive youth academy, and Delph being 25 means that soon he’ll be able to hand off the mantle to the younger players coming through, something a 22-year-old signing wouldn’t be able to do without leaving.
Homegrown status
Another problem City have faced after an influx of foreign players over the past few years. Prior to the transfer window opening, The Blues were left with just three players in the squad who could be classed as homegrown. However, Delph helps to fix this problem. Even if he doesn’t play a huge amount, he’s still classed as homegrown and that can help the squad domestically and continentally. Sterling also fits into that quota, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see more homegrown players come in before the end of the window.
Hard-working
Perhaps the most disappointing aspect to losing James Milner to Liverpool is the loss of his work-rate. During the time he spent at City following a move from Villa five years ago, he was consistently one of City’s most hard-working and underrated players, even when we weren’t in a good position. With him gone, The Blues need a new person who’ll give his all for the club, and Delph fits that bill. Much like Milner, he’ll never be the best player in the City squad – that’s a given – but a Villa fan has described the Englishman to me as “wears his heart on his sleeve” and “energetic”. That was accompanied by some rude words, which I won’t include here.
Nevertheless, those traits impress me and make me more excited to see what the 25-year-old can bring to the team.
Probably won’t expect to play every game
It seems horrible to say, but he probably won’t. Delph will struggle to compete with Yaya Toure and Fernandinho for a place in the starting lineup, and will struggle even more if someone like Paul Pogba or Lars Bender is signed, both of whom have been linked. He’ll hope to play as much as he can, as any footballer should, but he’s likely coming into the club knowing he might not play as much as he would at Villa. Although, I’m still excited to see him in the sky blue shirt, because he’ll be given a chance to show what he can do, both by the manager and the City fans.
Fabian Delph probably won’t be the best player City bring in this summer, with there being more pressure on Raheem Sterling to succeed than there is on Delph. New players are likely to follow Delph into the club as well, and there’ll likely also be more pressure on them. However, the England international knows he needs to work hard to succeed at the club, and there’s no doubt in my mind that he’ll be a successful City signing.