With speculation ongoing since late May it was nice to see Villa follow through and sign 19-year-old Fabian Delph. I've been excited about the prospect of Delph coming to Villa Park for quite a while now and Martin O'Neil secured the services of Delph from Leeds, holding off Manchester City. He adds to what is beginning to be an almost Arsenalesque stable of young stars at Villa. As often happens in the football fan world I've gone from leary to excited in the span of a week as Villa defeated Juventus in penalties to win the preseason Peace Cup, but more importantly showcased their stable of young talent. If O'Neil can follow through and shore up the center defense and the midfield in the coming week with three to four signings I'm confident that the club will again compete with Arsenal/Man City/Everton/Tottenham for the big 4th spot in the Premier League.
What a young core MON has put together through the transfer market and the youth system. You can add Delph to already established young stars such as Ashley Young, Gabriel Agbonlahor and James Milner. Couple that group with the likes of Craig Gardner, Barry Bannon, Marc Albrighton and American Eric Lichaj and Villa have put together quite a young contingent of talent. What caught my eye in catching a replay of the Peace Cup final was the pace and talent of Albrighton on the right wing. He may only be nineteen but I feel his play warrants real competition for James Milner out there. Albrighton is clearly ready for the step up to the first squad and I'm curious what this means for Milner. It will be interesting to see what O'Neil does. If he goes ahead and signs Miquel Veloso as rumored the midfield suddenly goes from a position of weakness to real squad depth for Villa. Not to mention the Christmas present of the potential of Stewart Downing coming late in the year.
A couple of questions. 1) Will Delph play immediately? Considering they paid between 6 and 8 million for him (to be determined) I think he most definitely plays immediately. Like any Villa fan I've been following the Leeds message boards and watching him on YouTube and I'm more impressed than ever. He has tremendous pace and although he hasn't scored a ton of goals the ones he's scored have been absolute crackers. I like the fact that he's a left footed player and should really compliment the attack from center midfield. If they go ahead and sign Veloso to play the holding mid-field role Villa would really have a nice balance in the center. As Delph progresses the presence of Veloso would really compliment his skills.
What's the big wild card? 2) The big wild card is the rumored attempt to sign Wesley Sneijder. Just when it seems he was destined for Inter that rumor seems to have cooled. Sneijder took a look at Villa last summer but ended up at Real Madrid. The idea of an attacking talent like Sneijder coming to Villa Park is almost too exciting to ponder. If there is even a remote chance of it happening it's worth ponying up the money for such an attacking talent with real ability to be a difference maker in the Premier League.
I'm not holding my breath on Sneijder but as indicated I feel a heck of a lot better about the club right now. With Young, Downing, Delph, Milner, Albrighton, Petrov, etc Villa are looking very strong in the midfield. One more potential pickup there and some defensive depth and I think we may be able to forget that brutal second half of last season.
Less than two weeks. Bring on Wigan!
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