Tim Sherwood has reveled that Fabian Delph chose to remain with Aston Villa.

The 25-year-old midfielder was a target for Manchester City with the club prepared to meet his modest buyout clause of £8million but opted to remain with Villa much to the delight of Sherwood.

"I knew there was interest from Manchester City and few other clubs who had shown a lot of interest in Fabian as I expected for such a small fee on the buyout clause," Sherwood said.

"But he never ever indicated to me that he wanted to leave.

"We could do nothing about it. Aston Villa Football Club could do nothing about it, it was Fabian Delph's decision to stay.

"Obviously we can try and sway his choice by telling him the pros and cons. I told him what we are trying to build here and he obviously liked the sound of it. It's up to us to strengthen now and put some real quality in and around Fabian Delph and others."

Delph joined Villa from Leeds United in 2009 and has gone onto become club captain while representing England on six occasions during his time in the West Midlands.