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Yesterday, Fabian Delph signed the paperwork to complete an £8m move to Manchester City. After committing his future to the club last week, the England midfielder changed his mind. Now, he's being lambasted by fans and pundits alike, just because he is taking the chance to improve the quality of life for himself and his family.
Giant media corporations are obviously crazy. Somehow, they will lead you to believe that getting paid is a bad thing. They want to turn Fabian Delph into a villain for ditching a club that's flirted with relegation each of the past three seasons for a team that will challenge for the Premier League crown while playing in the Champions League.
Delph will make twice as much as he did at Villa as a member of Manuel Pellegrini's mercenaries. Alongside fellow new signing and Three Lions teammate Raheem Sterling, there will be plenty of negative attention, especially if the performances don't match the wages. Who cares, you aren't paying them.
Aston Villa fans are tweeting that they hope Delph suffers a horrific injury, which is shameful. Boo the player when he returns to Villa Park if you will, but don't hold a grudge. You're just wasting your own energy and inflicting more unnecessary heartache.
Remember Fabian Delph for all the positive moments. The rocket strike that gave Villa a 3-2 smash-and-grab victory at Southampton in a match that Paul Lambert's team had 22 percent possession. Combining with Jack Grealish and Christian Benteke in the FA Cup Semifinal victory over Liverpool for a fantastic team goal. Selfies with fans during the pitch invasion. And that backheel that went across the face of goal and trickled in past Petr Čech, ultimately leading to one of the best reaction gifs when Jose Mourinho was sent off near the conclusion of the match.
Sure, the way it went down is bad. But look at it this way, he almost left Villa for nothing. He extended his contract and earned the club enough money to pay for his replacement, Idrissa Gueye. Ron Vlaar left for nothing, Delph left for something, Benteke will leave for a lot.
The important thing is that the money is used smartly to retool the squad, improving across the board. The future of this club now depends on Tim Sherwood, Tom Fox and new sporting director Hendrik Almstadt. If the £40 million is spent correctly, Aston Villa will be fine.