GeordieVillan

I said last week that it was a no-brainer for him to go City, and I wished him well, as signing the contract in January gave us a boost when we needed it, and also gave us £8m now. I even didn't hold his comments in January against him. But if he was to leave now, after making that statement last week - he's made himself look like a proper tit. He will be one of the most hated players in football, not just by Villa fans. I hope its not true as he will have gone from being a decent honest loyal pro, to a total scumbag.

Amazing. I posted last night that I had no problem with him leaving, and leaving us for City would be a no-brainer. If he has decided to stayed because he is as loyal as he said in January, then that should shut up quite a few people on here! I can't help but think that the move might have collapsed for some reason, or maybe he realised he would be tarnished as a 'judas' so he decided to stay for now - he might still leave for a bigger club next year, but so be it - fair play to him. I also said yesterday that I thought he had been part of one of the least effective Aston Villa midfields in my lifetime, and that his departure (with Cleverly, and the arrival of his apparent replacement) gave us an opportunity to reinvent ourselves. It seems we will now reinvent ourselves with Delph still as captai, playing alongside Cleverly's replacement! Just like January, this is a massive boost for the club, and hopefully a few more arrivals to come.

I remember seeing him come on as a sub at Newcastle a couple of season backs, and playing in midfield with Bannan. I remember thinking he looked a like a real player, at one point he ran in the box and won a header from a cross in open play and nearly scored, and I thought we havn't had a midfielder do that since Ian Taylor.... I think he will get his chance and feature regularly in the squad, if not as a starter. If Tim didn't fancy him, he would have gone by now, I'm sure Forest would have took him. Next season is important for his development, but all being well he should be a regular starter in 2 seasons time.

One positive at least is we'll have the first full season of Jack Grealish. I believe aswell we will sign another player who can play the other number 10 role as Gabby can't really play that and N'zogbia is N'zogbia so yes we will create chances as we generally have done in most of the Sherwood games but you still need a clinical striker to put them away. Only when Benteke leaves will we realise how frighteningly good he was at hitting the target and scoring. I agree that an in form Benteke has an excellent conversion rate. He's scored alot of goals for us, and I think this is despite him being a bit of a purple patch striker - he's had some barren spells as well. If he does go, I'd love us to sign a proper goalscorer, someone who is always in the box waiting for chances. Benteke frustrates me when he quite often pulls to the edge of the box for a pull back and spectacular goal (cup semi final apart!)

Really? Vlaar by most accounts was poor last season, and injured alot of the time anyway. I think Richards could end up being a very decent replacement. Cleverly was also poor pre-Sherwood and then decent in half of Sherwood's games I would say - not a world beater though. Gardner will be given the chance to step up. Delph had become a bit of a talisman for us, but by no means was he a great player or leader - he was very hit and miss. We signed his replacement already. When have we ever been so well prepared that we signed a replacement before a key player left us! Benteke - this is the one I agree with you on. It will be a blow if he leaves, but I can't believe we don't have a plan to replace him. Tim will have something up his sleeve. I see the club Facebook page have updated their photo to one without Delph or Benteke!

You have to bear in mind that we've been terrible at scoring goals because we have been terrible at creating chances. If Benteke leaves and is replaced with Austin or another striker (who is similar to Benteke or different to Benteke), alot with depend on how the team is set up next season and what our general style of play is. I expect us be quite expansive with Sinclair and Grealish both featuring regularly and 2 strikers up front. We still have N'Zogbia and Gil - although who knows if they will be used.

Sanchez can't play in a central two in this league imo. It will be Westwood, Gueye and someone yet to be brought into the club for the midfield next season. I think Sanchez can do it - he just needs a pre-season with Tim and the right partner. I don't see us playing with a flat 3 as we have in the past couple of seasons. I think it will be a central 2 and either a number 10 (Jack) or second striker.

cant agree about the board here. They gave him a new deal in 2011 which he probably didnt deserve at the time and came back to bite us. Club stood by him through a lot of injuries too and also through some shit form He couldnt do the basics under McLeish which was embarrassing to watch Spot on Zatman - the board did a decent job here by getting £8m for him. They let his deal run down to that point! Some of the biggest clubs in the world have let players contracts run down - the clubs don't have the power. The alternative would have been to sell him last season, but I suspect we wouldn't have got more than £8m for him then anyway!

Welcome! I genuinely hope you turn out to be a star and people very quickly forget about Delph. I see him playing as part of central 2 with Sanchez - assuming Sanchez has a decent pre-season and gets up to speed. That gives us a very solid base to build from going forward.

cant agree about the board here. They gave him a new deal in 2011 which he probably didnt deserve at the time and came back to bite us. Club stood by him through a lot of injuries too and also through some shit form He couldnt do the basics under McLeish which was embarrassing to watch Spot on Zatman - the board did a decent job here by getting £8m for him.

I don't agree. Its blow in that he was our captain, but I don't think its a massive blow on the pitch, especially since we have already signed his replacement it seems - a new player chosen by our current manager, and not a legacy of one of his predecessors. We have been shit for 5 years now, its time we moved on some of the players who have been around during all of that time - they are the players who Sherwood says are accustomed to losing (or not winning rather).

The anger towards him isn't because of all the things you've listed. Are you telling me then when he said all that stuff you believed he would stay with us if a seriously big club came in for him? Thats crazy! Why would he?! Realistically, we could spend £200m this summer and still be miles behind City. People are living in a dream world if they believed his comments in that interview and to call him Judas etc. isn't fair on the balance of things. I suspect he could have left in January, but he stayed and helped us stay up. He also could have stayed and run down his contract and left for nothing, which he didn't. He was loyal to us in the short-term, and put a potential move and big pay-day at risk for himself by signing a contract, even with a release clause. I suspect the release clause was only for a Champions League club, rather than just any club, and he just didn't expect it to happen so quickly. People need to get over it and look forward. For me he is a player that is associated strongly with the failures of previous managers and was a major part of one the least creative midfields I have even seen at Villa. I am looking forward to getting some new faces in that - score goals and make goals. I certainly believed he would be here next year and not once did I think, based on his comments, that he only signed due to a low release clause being inserted. Fair enough. I didn't expect a release clause either to be honest. But I never expect any player to stay if a much bigger club comes in for them - its not how the game or the world works! Christ, our best player is Benteke, and we only signed him from his previous club only because he went on some kind of semi-strike!

Not as funny as those defending him His move has nothing to do with where he is going or the money he's going to be offered or anything to do with or any of the reasons you have listed It is how he has conducted himself since signing his new deal He has practically declared himself Mr Aston Villa and with some of the pure bullshit that has come out his mouth you would think he would of had the decency to stay at least another season Why would he stay and risk the chance of a lifetime? A chance that might never come again? Its not about defending him, its about being realistic. This is not like when Southgate left for Middlesborough and took a sideways step to get away from us - that was a kick in the teeth. We are a club going nowhere fast sadly. We will be lucky if we finish in the top 4 once in the next 10-20 years. People need to be realistic. When Delph made those comments, there was not an offer from City on the table. Even if he does leave, I'm glad he made the comments - it was a good bit of PR at a time when we were struggling, and it gave the whole club a boost which might well have contributed to us staying up.

THIS. Lets look forward. If he stays fine, but is he doesn't - he is in no way as big a loss as - Yorke, Southgate, Young and Milner - they were major players.

The anger towards him isn't because of all the things you've listed. Are you telling me then when he said all that stuff you believed he would stay with us if a seriously big club came in for him? Thats crazy! Why would he?! Realistically, we could spend £200m this summer and still be miles behind City. People are living in a dream world if they believed his comments in that interview and to call him Judas etc. isn't fair on the balance of things. I suspect he could have left in January, but he stayed and helped us stay up. He also could have stayed and run down his contract and left for nothing, which he didn't. He was loyal to us in the short-term, and put a potential move and big pay-day at risk for himself by signing a contract, even with a release clause. I suspect the release clause was only for a Champions League club, rather than just any club, and he just didn't expect it to happen so quickly. People need to get over it and look forward. For me he is a player that is associated strongly with the failures of previous managers and was a major part of one the least creative midfields I have even seen at Villa. I am looking forward to getting some new faces in that - score goals and make goals.

Some of the comments on this thread are ridiculous. The only players I can think of in my lifetime that have turned down a combination of - 1) more money 2) the increased chance of winning trophies 3) playing for a "bigger" club 4) playing at the top level in Europe are Alan Shearer and Matt Le Tissier. Both of these stayed/moved to their home town clubs and stayed with them to become local legends, at the expense of them actually winning anything. Hopefully Jack Grealish does the same for us. Sadly Delph is from Yorkshire rather than being a Villa kid, so his loyalty extended only to ensuring we got a fee for him, not to him actually staying. I'm sure there are other examples, but realistically no-one outside of Aston Villa will be looking at this move and be surprised that he is leaving us for City.

Don't blame him for going - sadly they are a much better option than us right now (and probably for the long term) so its a no-brainer for him. He will believe in himself and his ability to be a regular in their team, but I don't think he's good enough for them. He was only decent for us last season, prior to that he has been very hit and miss IMO. He was though a bit of poster boy for our model of young players being given a chance, so its a shame at the same time. I suspect he will be like Milner for them - he will play a bit part, get paid well and win some medals along the way, and then move on a free transfer to Spurs, Liverpool, Everton etc. in a few years. To be honest, he is/was one of our first names on the team sheet, but I think we can cope without him, and his and Cleverly's departure means our midfield will have a whole new feel to it next year. Delph was very much a midfielder who played better as part of a '3', rather than playing as a pair in central midfield - I think this might not sit well with Sherwood anyway. I'm excited to see who else we can bring in and how we will set up. He could have left on a free, so I don't begrudge him his move and wish him luck - he will need it.

I don't begrudge him a move, but if he does go then I hope he goes quietly. We don't need a summer of rebuilding over-shadowed by a "will he / won't he" saga for our prize asset. Lets either get our replacements in first and sell him later when we are comfortable that we can manage without him, or sell him quickly so we have the whole summer to rebuild. If the buying club (e.g. Liverpool) start pissing around over the fee, it would leave a really sour taste if Benteke threatens to go on strike or something like that to force a move. As it is, I think the majority of fans wouldn't give him any abuse if he left because he's never said anything negative about the club, and even in his interview the other day he stopped short of saying anything to blatantly upset the fans or burn his bridges. I think he is a clever guy and hope he handles himself well over the next couple of months, where he stays or not.

I want him to stay, but we can't break the wage structure for him. For Benteke yes, for Cleverly no.

I disagree, I think we have had a bad few years, but we are not too far behind Swansea or Southampton, and Spurs are where we should be aiming. I'll have what you're drinking. We are nowhere near Southampton who have been back in the premier league only 3 seasons and have had success with a modest budget and by selling their best players over the years? We are nowhere near Swansea who are managed on a tight budget, sell their best players to bigger clubs and have a young manager who is still learning the ropes? I don't get it - we have had a terrible time in the past few years, loads of instability and still survived every year, and we have the nucleus of a very good team and could quite easily finish top half next season with the right additions. Yes we are behind Swansea and Southampton, but we could easily catch them up within a season. Ditto we are not far behind Everton, Stoke and others. The gap between us and everyone outside the top six is very minimal and would not require a massive amount of investment. People on here overly negative. Spurs are further ahead - fair enough.

I disagree, I think we have had a bad few years, but we are not too far behind Swansea or Southampton, and Spurs are where we should be aiming.

This whole high line thing isn't a case of black or white. To play a high line and make it work, you need to have good communicators, be confident and have faith in eachother as a back 4. Vlaar and Okore are not great communicators and don't seem to click as a pair, and against Southampton we had Bacuna at right back and Hutton at left back, not ideal. I think we can play a high line and will probably do this next season alot better, as we will be practicing it, and also Clark is key as he is the communicator and leader. We need two fullbacks who can actually defend to make it work. The problem with not playing a high line is what we saw against Arsenal - we dropped back and defended deep and surrendered space in midfield. Our midfield then had no chance whatsoever of imposing themselves on the game and we were dominated throughout. When you play that way against Arsenal, you only get a result as a smash and grab, so you will never be able to take the game to them. And we were playing Arsenal, who are a miles better team than us. Lets not forget that Tim has only had a dozen or so games with the squad, and for alot of those our defence has been ravaged by injuries, and those that have been playing are apparently carrying knocks in some cases. Lets judge Tim next season when he has had a pre-season and has brought some of his own lads in. People honestly need to get over the Southampton game, its gone.

I think Tim will keep him and he will be a good squad player at least. Not sure if he is a starter, but we might not have a choice!

Vlaar was very good when playing alongside Clark. Ditto Okore was good when playing alongside Clark. Clark is our key defender now, he sets the tone and is a leader. Him and Delph are the future of the club. I would keep Vlaar to play alongside Clark, if Vlaar is prepared to stay that is. I suspect Ron will get a big payday and a 3-4 year contract in Italy which we are not prepared to match.

If he stays, then he is potentially blocking a route to the first team for Gary Gardner anyway. I'm not sure if Gardner is ready, but I think he should be given the chance and will be thrown in at the deep end next season.