Fabian Delph will miss Ashley Young

Fabian Delph is "gutted" to see Ashley Young join Manchester United but understands the winger's desire to quit Villa.

Young, who had one year left on his contract, signed a five-year deal at Old Trafford for a fee of around £17million and has effectively doubled his salary to £130,000 a week.

And, while Young will be missed, Delph has backed his team-mates to step up to the plate next season.

The 21-year-old said: "I'm gutted to see Ashley go. He's been a big brother to me.

"Any time I've needed to speak to him or when I've played, there's been nothing but encouragement from him and he's basically been schooling me through everything I've done.

"All the boys are sad, he's a great player and a great guy off the pitch as well. But it happens all the time, it's football, people come and go and you've just got to deal with it and just keep going. It's up to us to step up to the plate now.

"With his goals and assists it will be very hard to replace him, but if we can get somebody here half as good as him then he would still be a great player."