Heard a story at the time that Delph had failed his medical, but having released Lampard and Milner, City were desperate for an English player to fill the quota.
Apparently this explained the mystery over the on-off-on transfer.
Didn’t take the story too seriously (one of those “my mate’s mate is the physio who conducts the medical”), but more than a year later, it seems more credible.
In the meantime, our 25 man squad is realistically a 23 man squad, with Delph and Kompany permanently injured. Once you allow for Sagna, Zabaleta, and daft suspensions, that becomes an issue.