Aston Villa: The story of Fabian Delph and one of the most bizarre betrayals in football history
Aston Villa fans were heartbroken seven years ago today as captain and star man Fabian Delph jumped ship to Manchester City.
Just six months earlier, Delph had committed to a four-and-a-half-year deal at Villa Park after rising to be one of the club’s key men.
He told the fans “I am a loyal person and committing my future will hopefully show everybody what type of guy I am.”
Delph proudly declared “there was no way I was going to bail out” as he looked ahead to the future at Villa.
Well, that did not last long.
Around and around
A player signing a new contract at a club, proudly declaring their loyalty, and then leaving inside a year is nothing new.
If that was all that happened then we would not be talking about it seven years down the line, but what was bizarre was how he did it.
It was well known that Delph had a release clause written into his contract, almost every senior player at the club did at that point, but his clause was significantly lower than his teammates.
As he was known to be injury prone, Villa had to limit Delph’s release clause to £8million, a remarkably low fee even at the time.
This alerted some of England’s biggest clubs immediately, with Manchester City looking for a backup English midfielder to replace Frank Lampard.
Following Villa’s explosive end to the 2014/15 season, which saw them reach the FA Cup final and avoid relegation, City activated his release clause.
Fans began to say their farewells and write angry messages to the club for setting his clause so low, but Delph had a dramatic change of heart.
He proudly announced on 12 July 2015 that he would be staying, declaring “I can’t wait for the start of the season and captaining this great football club.”
Five days later he changed his mind again and he was presented as a City player, being given Lampard’s old shirt number of 18.
Fans were understandably, and rightly, left furious and feeling betrayed by their captain and they preceded to taunt him whenever they came across him in a City shirt.
On his return to Villa Park in November 2015, fans brought plastic and inflatable snakes into the stands and booed every touch he took.
It was the same story when City came to Villa Park for an FA Cup tie later that season, though Villa were battered 0-4 and fans eventually lost interest.
Villa were relegated in his absence, with Delph nailing down a place at left-back for City in the 2017/18 season before moving to Everton in 2019.
They never saw him again, with Delph being injured for both of Everton’s visits to Villa Park in front of fans after promotion.
Delph’s betrayal stings Villa fans to this day, but at least the club is in a better position now.
In other Aston Villa news, Villa are set to demand £20million for Carney Chukwuemeka this summer.