Newcastle United remain interest in Manchester City midfielder Fabian Delph, but the Newcastle Evening Chronicle understands that he will only be allowed to leave for £12million. Head coach Rafa Benitez faces competition from other Premier League clubs for the 27-year-old.
Since an £8million move to the Etihad Stadium back in 2015, Delph has only managed to start ten Premier League games in that time. He has earned international caps for England during that time, but is fairly low down Pep Guardiola’s pecking order with the Citizens.
The former Barcelona boss is happy for Delph to move on, but £12million is the asking price. West Bromwich Albion and Stoke City join Newcastle in hoping to sign the former Leeds United academy graduate. He still has three years left on his current deal. City do favour a permanent move away as he has fallen out of favour, especially with Guardiola looking to make a real assault on the league title next season.
The Magpies are believed to have been monitoring Delph for a while. Benitez is clearly looking to strengthen in the central midfield area and the ball keeping qualities of the midfield man would certainly be an asset.
It was during his time at Leeds where Delph really broke onto the English footballing scene. He became captain of the reserve side at a very young age, eventually making his first team debut as a substitute in 2007. He would go on to make over 40 appearances for the club before a move to the Premier League became inevitable. Aston Villa won that hotly contested race and played over 100 times for Villa.
