Fabian Delph’s Move To Manchester City Is a Career-Damaging Case of Deja Vu
By Alex McCain
As you’re probably well aware, Fabian Delph recently made the switch from Aston Villa to Manchester City, despite recently ‘committing his future’ to the former – and there’s plenty of evidence to suggest he made the wrong decision.
Delph went back on his word to stay at Villa out of loyalty and departed for Manchester, with the offer of more money and a higher standard of football clearly being all too tempting. What made such a switch particularly controversal was the fact Delph had this to stay upon signing a new 4-and-a-half-year deal at Villa prior to the move:
"I am a loyal person and committing my future will hopefully show everybody what type of guy I am."
Suffice to say, I think it’s become blatantly apparent what type of person Delph truly is.
Treachery aside, there are enough reasons to believe that the move itself is a bad one.
The reasoning lies in the lack of success other bright young English prospects before Delph had following their moves to City. Prospects whose footballing attributes were lesser than those of Man City’s first team regulars, and thus their development was stunted. Delph, I believe, is falling into the same trap – and here’s why:
Exhibit A – Scott Sinclair
Winger Scott Sinclair was thriving prior to his move to City; playing for Swansea at the time, Sinclair managed 28 goalsin 82 appearances for the Swans before City swooped.
Over the course of 3 seasons Sinclair would find the majority of his footballing experience taking place either on loan or on the bench – accumulating a meagre 13 appearances for City and without netting a single goal.
Ironically, in the context of Delph’s move, Sinclair recently made the switch to Villa park – where he will hope to foritfy a dwindling career with first team football and perhaps push for the England squad once again.
Exhibit B – Jack Rodwell
In this Everton days, Jack Rodwell was a highly rated first-team regular. His old coach at the toffees in particular seemed to believe he had spotted a lustorous diamond in the rough, so naturally it wasn’t long before a title contending club came knocking.
City, however, preferred players who were less prone to injuries, with Rodwell’s hamstring problems leaving him one step behind his teammates who did not have as much of an issue.
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Perhaps at such a young age, first team football should’ve been more accessible to Rodwell. But that is less of an issue, at least, now the Southport-born midfielder is at Sunderland, where he has already surpassed his number of league apperances in one year (23) at Sunderland than his two years at Man City (16).
Even if that isn’t evidence enough to make the bold claim that Delph will fail at his new club, it at least rouses scepticism and gives the impression that an unfortunate deja vu of young English talent could be damaging for Delph’s career.
I don’t think Villa fans will lose too much sleep over the thought of that, though.