Manchester City may have set their sights on Villa's captain

I can't figure out the right tone to take for this article. My gut tells me I should use lots of swears and just go all-out rage. My (slightly) more professional side says that I should avoid those things. So let's start with the facts rumours. Manchester City are apparently very interested in buying Paul Pogba from Juventus this summer. That makes sense. City have more money than God and Pogba may be the best young player in the world. They bid they're considering is rumoured to be in the range of £80 million, which, wow. That's 2+ Christian Bentekes.

But should their swoop for Pogba fail, Manuel Pellegrini has apparently decided that his back up plan is Fabian Delph, according to John Percy in the Telegraph. Hopefully you can understand the rage side of me now. Delph began the season with just one year left on his contract, and for a while, many of use thought he was certainly gone. If not in January then definitely over the summer.

Then, just before the FA Cup clash with Bournemouth, we heard that Delph had signed on for four more years at Villa Park. Loyalty was alive! Fans were ecstatic! O Captain our captain!

So eff off, City. I sort of figure that Delph, who has become an England regular, will be gone before his contract is up. Loyalty can withstand only so much battering from wealth, after all. But not now. We get him for at least another season. And if he really is your back-up plan to Pogba, Villa should be happy to reflect that in price. We guess you can have him, and we'll even save you some money.

How's £70 million sound?