Fabian Delph to Man City

[BigbadBillyMcKinley]

Is he mad or stupid?

Big payday yes, but bang goes his England career.

[Nero]

Is he mad or stupid?

Big payday yes, but bang goes his England career.

Thing is with most English footballers they think they are world beaters but they are not, hence why we are so crap, he will probably fill the void on the bench left by James Milner. He will probably still get picked for England or ironically replace by Jack Rodwell

[aaronmcguigan]

All these young English guys like sterling, Sinclair, Richards, Zaha etc

They all go for the big bucks, but one thing they have in common is the general feeling that they're the dogs balls, and that they can basically walk into any team.

Clearly City are doing it because they sold or released all their English players, Milner/Richards and can't be seen to have a complete foreign squad.

Delph will need to work incredibly hard and improve ten fold to get in that team

[bog]

Another one vanishes off the face of the earth.

[Max Headroom]

Roberts next. Pat, you have been warned young man....

[FPT]

I think Manchester City are now in a position of desperately needing to rebuild with younger, fresher and hungrier talent so they can compete for the next decade rather than a couple of years as the majority of the City squad starts to wind down in their late 20s - early 30s. I think they're also waiting for Pep Guardiola, he's the eventual aim for Manchester City for a longer term rebuild and to start bleeding through some of the academy talent they have.

I would not be surprised to see Fabian Delph play 20+ matches for City this season in the pivot with Fernando or Fernandinho, meaning the older Yaya Toure can push forward and be the beast he was when Roberto Mancini would regularly put him up the field in games. I think £8m is a bargain considering the current market and no brainer for Manchester City who do need to increase their Home Grown Players pool and he's a player that has a style that would transition into the City squad with ease.

I don't think a move to City will shorten his career, but that's just me.

[MasterHaynes]

I know there's a lot of talk about Roberts wanting to go to Man city but I can't believe either his parents, agent and himself are that short sighted. In terms of money he may get a 4 year contract on 15-20k a week(can't really see them paying much more)but when he does not progress he will lose out on potentially much higher earnings even in a championship team.

More importantly they should all cast their minds back around 20 months ago when Roberts played against a U18 Man City team and went on to win 5-3 in a great game. Roberts, though only 16 was far from the stand out player in the match in the Fulham team. The one player that was head and shoulders above everyone among a talented group of players inc Williams and Roberts was a kid called Jose Angel Pozo. Even though City only kept him on the pitch for the first 45 minutes he was awesome.

Angel had it all, those of us watching agreed he could probably have walked into half the premiership teams match day squad. Having been so impressed with him I have kept an eye on his progress and since that time he has made only a couple of appearances in meaningless cup games and the bench a couple of times. I can understand why they wouldn't have loaned him out, although much stronger than Roberts now the same age he is fast with incredible technique and would just get kicked off the park unless loaned to a premiership team.

If City offered us a straight swap for Roberts I would bite their hands off as I think he is a much better player with even more potential but I guess City know how good he is even though he isn't given a chance there. I'm sure when his contract runs out he will be off back to Spain because City have not given him any opportunity or hope to progress and wasted his formative years.

Roberts and his agent just need to think on Angel's situation as in 4 years time with no first team football Roberts would struggle to land a similar contract to the City one and will have to drop down to the championship to gain the experience he will have missed out on by leaving Fulham.  

[Max Headroom]

The biggest problem for the England national team is that their top 17 to 21 year olds are not playing regularly.....

I am Welsh.... So that is an unbiased view haha

[FPT]

Plot twist - Mike Rigg brought Jose Angel Pozo to City. Quote from an interview with Goal about three years ago: "The ones I am most proud of are the young ones that haven't made in the first team yet. There is a boy at City called [Jose Angel] Pozo that we signed from Real Madrid. He's a wonderful talent, 16 going on 17."

His contract expires next summer, but with him playing 4 games for City last season and involved in the squad for their pre-season tour, you've got think they'll offer him a new deal.

[MasterHaynes]

Plot twist - Mike Rigg brought Jose Angel Pozo to City. Quote from an interview with Goal about three years ago: "The ones I am most proud of are the young ones that haven't made in the first team yet. There is a boy at City called [Jose Angel] Pozo that we signed from Real Madrid. He's a wonderful talent, 16 going on 17."

His contract expires next summer, but with him playing 4 games for City last season and involved in the squad for their pre-season tour, you've got think they'll offer him a new deal.

Glad to see I'm in prestigious company with my initial assessment after just watching him for 45 minutes. The thing is if I was Angel I would be looking to move on if I didn't get a good few appearances this season to show what I could do. Watching whats going on now it looks like each summer the big 4 will be trying to outspend each other bringing even more players that will restrict his opportunity to just play 15-20 minutes in a game. Love for us to get him on loan for this season as I saw a rumour they might be looking to loan him out, I guess that would be to a premiership team, but if Mike Rigg can get in there and sell him on Fulham we would be in for a real treat.

[sunburywhite]

I have been told by a Villa fan Delph stayed because his wife is just about to give birth