Nathan Baker admits captain Fabian Delph’s decision to stay at Aston Villa has lifted everyone at the club.

The England midfielder has recently been linked with a move to Manchester City, with the Citizens keen to add to their homegrown quota following the departures of Frank Lampard and James Milner.

Despite signing a new contract last season, City were believed to have triggered an £8million release clause in the 25-year-old’s contract, with reports suggesting a deal was extremely close.

The speculation was further heightened when Delph decided to miss the Villans’ current training camp in Portugal to stay with his pregnant partner in Birmingham.

However, he released a statement via the Villa website on Saturday insisting that was not moving and that he is happy at his current club.

Baker was part of the side that went down 3-1 to Championship side Fulham on Saturday, a friendly in which Tim Sherwood’s men clearly missed their skipper.

The defender knows just how important Delph is to his club’s cause and is delighted that he has decided to stay at Villa Park.

“I don’t know what Fabian’s situation has been to be honest,” he’s quoted as saying by the Daily Mirror. “We’ve not really been speaking about it, we came to the training camp and he’s stayed at home because his missus is pregnant. We’ve been away at this training camp.

“He’s our skipper so it is a big bonus he will be with us next season.
He’s one of our main players, it’s great news.”

After finishing 17th last season, Villa are again being tipped to struggle with them currently priced 4.00 to be relegated.