Manchester City midfielder Fabian Delph appears set to sign for Stoke City despite interest from Newcastle United and Celtic.
Former Aston Villa favourite Fabian Delph
Well, that went as expected. Few could blame Fabian Delph for having his head turned by a glamorous move to Manchester City in the summer of 2015, unless you’re a die-hard Aston Villa fanatic that is.
But, like Jack Rodwell and Scott Sinclair before him, Delph never appeared likely to fit in alongside bonafide superstars like Yaya Toure, David Silva and Kevin De Bruyne. His energetic, hard-working performances in the Villa midfield may have made him a staple of Roy Hodgson’s England team but moving to The Etihad appeared a step too far out of his comfort zone.
And so it proved. Two years and ten Premier League starts later, the 27-year-old appears to have given up hope of making the grade in sky blue. And the Daily Mail claim that Stoke City look set to beat Newcastle United to the signature of the former Leeds United prospect.
Moving to the Potteries appears a sensible decision from Delph. A tenacious presence and a reliable distributor, he should form a stable partnership with Darren Fletcher in the engine room next season.
However, while Newcastle manager Rafael Benitez is hugely frustrated after missing out on another top target, as reported by The Daily Mail, Celtic counterpart Brendan Rodgers should not lose too much sleep.
The newspaper adds that the Scottish champions were hoping to pull off an impressive coup by luring the nine-time England international north of the border.
However, when you look at the midfield options already at Celtic’s disposal, paying such a club-record £12 million fee would make little sense. Scott Brown and Stuart Armstrong have just enjoyed arguably the best seasons of their career, forming a formidable midfield partnership.
In fact, Armstrong’s energy and willigness to ‘do the dirty work’ has freed up the veteran Brown to revivea career that stuttered badly under Ronny Deila.
Furthermore, Australian playmaker Tom Rogic is capable of moments of genuine magic and offers that kind of box-to-box thrust that Delph has made his trademark. Averaging just shy of a goal every three games in 2016/17, the 24-year-old also offers more productivity in final third.
Brendan Rodgers calls Tomas Rogic his ‘magic man’
Furthermore, Callum McGregor came on leaps and bounds in the second half of 2016/17 while youngster Eboue Kouassi also has a bright future at Parkhead.
To put it simply, Celtic would be better off using the money more wisely.
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