Player #817 for Aston Villa, Fabian Delph played as a midfielder for the club between 2009-10 and 2014-15 making 136 appearances, and scoring 8 goals.

Delph was born in Bradford on 21 November 1989 and was signed by Martin O’Neill as a 19 year old on 4 August 2009 from Leeds United for a fee of £8,550,000.

Martin O’Neill had made some poor decisions in the transfer market that cost Villa significant sums and didn’t always deliver talent but one signing he got very right was the teenager Delph.

Having impressed for Leeds, Delph had a high fee attached and despite his tender age, slow start and propensity for injury earlier in his career, over his 5 years with the club he developed into an outstanding midfield talent.

Delph made his debut appearance for Villa on Saturday, 15 August 2009 aged 19 in the home defeat to Wigan Athletic but would make just one further league start in 2009 despite being an ever present in the squad.

In total Delph made 15 appearances including 10 starts in his debut season but missed out on selection for both the League Cup final and FA Cup semi final before injury ended his season early in April 2010.

Delph had hit his first goal for the club by that time however with the winner against Brighton & Hove Albion in the FA Cup 4th Round on Saturday, 23 January 2010.

Following O’Neill’s departure on the eve of the 2010-11 Gérard Houllier eventually arrived as his replacement in late September with Delph still injured meaning he would make just 8 appearances in his second season as Villa faced troubles both on and off the pitch.

With Houllier unable to either start or finish the 2010-11 season he was replaced by Alex McLeish for 2011-12 who had a fit again Delph to select.

McLeish duly did so, handing Delph 9 starts in the first 12 games of the season before being in and out of the squad ahead of a loan to former club Leeds in January 2012 only for Delph to return injured once again and ruled out for the remainder of the campaign having managed just 13 appearances in his third season with Villa.

2012-13 saw yet another managerial change with Paul Lambert installed bringing with him a recruitment and selection policy based on lower league players.

Delph began the season fit again but struggled for game time as Lambert preferred his own signings with a run of 5 starts Delph’s best return to the turn of the year despite being a virtual ever present in the squad from September onwards.

Delph however had the good fortune to sit out Villa’s worst ever defeat in all competitions with Lambert presiding over a 0-8 loss to Chelsea on Sunday, 23 December 2012.

From the turn of the year however Delph became a semi permanent fixture in Villa’s starting line up - making 17 starts in 22 games as his presence helped stiffen an otherwise weak midfield.

Lambert’s surprise second season in charge after the difficulties of 2012-13 saw Delph grow as a player even as the team around him weakened and led Delph to return his best appearance haul of 35 starts whilst chipping in with 4 goals.

If 2013-14 proved a surprise that Lambert was still in post, 2014-15 was scarcely believable.

Still however Delph continued to perform as relegation appeared a certainty. However Delph, commendably effective in an otherwise poor Lambert team, made significant strides forward once the Scot was finally relieved of his duties and the more attacking Tim Sherwood came in as interim manager and galvanised the squad and Delph’s influence.

With Villa still capable of capitulation match to match, Sherwood did enough to help Villa avoid relegation - a role in which Delph contributed more than his fair share - and as a bonus led Villa to an ultimately unsuccessful FA Cup final appearance.

Villa were a team desperately in need of quality but the last remnants of talent were leaving and so it was greeted with great cheer in the close season of 2015 that Delph committed his future to Villa amid a bid from Manchester City.

What happened thereafter is still unclear but within a matter of days Delph had apparently reversed his decision and left for Manchester.

Such was his influence that it was of little surprise that a Delph-less midfield saw Villa weakened to such an extent that relegation followed the season after his controversial departure.

That departure has seen Delph held in very low esteem by many Villa supporters however there is said to be a great deal more to the story than Delph simply backtracking on his commitment to the club and falling for Manchester City’s overtures.

It is said that Delph’s transfer was actually forced through by the Lerner regime who were intent on the sale of playing assets of such rarity and quality that it made previous Doug Ellis’ disastrous 1980’s strategy of dismantling the League and European Cup winning squad look tame.

Sadly Delph’s career as a player on a pitch fell away after leaving Villa, regularly failing to appear for Manchester City, playing out of position when he did and then failing to make the team in a struggling Everton side.

Delph probably had reason to regret his move away as much as Villa did.

A snake or a pawn? The truth, when it eventually comes out, will be interesting.