Fabian Delph has completed a move to Aston Villa, despite the weekend reports that he was likely to join Manchester City.

Ken Bates explained to the official site that he agreed a fee with Manchester City, but that fell through when City asked for a week’s delay so that the agreement could be referred to their owners in the Gulf. “The problem was they might have come back and said 'no' and that wouldn't have been fair to Delph, wouldn't have been fair to Aston Villa, and would have eaten into our season. We went back to Villa and it's a good decision for Leeds and the player."

In other words, with the start of the season fast approaching we needed a deal to go through as soon as possible, which hopefully is a sign that Grayson will be allowed to use at least some of the cash to strengthen the team. The downside is that if City had been able to complete the deal they might have paid well over the odds, so rushing things through in this manner might have cost us a couple of million quid. 

Leeds have agreed a £6m transfer fee with Villa, but some reports have suggested that this could rise to as much as £8m, depending on the number of appearances Delph makes for the West Midlands mob. As far as Delph is concerned, he might not such a  lucrative contract at Villa Park, but he will stand a better chance of first team football than he would have done at the City of Manchester Stadium.

A statement on the official site said "Leeds United wishes to place on record our appreciation for the honourable manner in which Aston Villa have conducted their interest in the player.The club has resisted approaches from other FA Premier League clubs since agreeing terms with Aston Villa. Having given Villa our commitment to transfer the player (subject to medical), we had no intention of going back on that."

So we now live in hope that a few decent players will be coming into Elland Road before the transfer window shuts at the end of the end of the month. Judging by our impressive form in pre-season there don’t seem to be too many obvious weaknesses in the squad, but we could do with another quality attacking midfield player as a direct replacement for Delph. Watch this space.  

Photo: Action Images

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