Potential Gooner? The man we would have scoffed at two seasons ago!

Who are ya?

It would have come as no surprise to the Aston Villa fans when Roy Hodgson announced Fabian Delph was in his squad for the friendly against Norway and the Euro 2016 qualfier against Switzerland. However, it certainly shocked the fans of the other 91 English Football League clubs.

After a nervy 20/25 minutes against the Swiss, Delph settled in and impressed us hard to please Three Lions supporters with his neat dribbles, wonderful reading of the game and ability to break up the play.

Having joined Villa from Leeds United on loan in 2009 – he went back to Elland Road on loan in 2012 – Delph has made 76 Premier League starts and 14 substitute appearances to date, with last season proving somewhat of a breakthrough campaign for the midfielder, making 33 starts for Villa in the league – his previous best was 19.

Spend some money, Arsene

Fabian Delph is actually a free agent at the end of the season which will know doubt make Arsene Wenger rub his hands with glee, however, Villa have offered the England international a new deal.

Believability factor

This gets a rating of Kim Kallstrom as, although not necessarily clearly what we need and somewhat underwhelming, Delph would probably prove to be a clever and needed bit of business.

Game changer

Fabian Delph is an energetic, ball-winner something we don’t really have in this squad – Flamini is energetic but certainly not a (clean) ball-winner. Therefore, you could suggest the current Aston Villa midfielder may well change the dynamics and mobility of the midfield for the better.

Whether he is a game changer for the fans, though, may well take a little longer to decide. After all, us Gooners were readying ourselves for Sami Khedira’s arrival from Real Madrid or Lars Bender from Bayer Leverkusen.