Fabian Delph pinpointed the Martin O’Neill factor as hugely significant after sealing a £6 million move to Aston Villa last night.

The 19-year-old completed his transfer from Leeds United and took O’Neill’s net spend to £2 million following the sales of Gareth Barry and Zat Knight and the acquisition of Stewart Downing.

O’Neill is now expected to attempt to seek the signatures of Real Madrid’s Wesley Sneijder, Portsmouth’s Sylvain Distin, Blackburn’s Stephen Warnock, Newcastle’s Habib Beye and free-agent Sol Campbell as he gears up for a dart at a top-four finish.

Delph was clearly in seventh heaven after putting pen to paper on what was expected to be a four-year deal.

“I’m absolutely delighted. It’s a big step up but I’m looking forward to it and hopefully I can do well,” the former Bradford City youngster said.

“I’ve managed to get the move here and I’m going to work my hardest and hopefully the gaffer will give me the opportunity to play.

“There are a lot of young English players here, an absolutely superb manager and this is the club I’ve chosen to play for, so hopefully I can do well.”

Leeds United chairman Ken Bates had earlier in the day revealed that it was the strength of Villa’s bid and the courtesy they showed in negotiations that had swung the transfer their way, coupled with a perceived half-hearted approach from Manchester City.

“It’s a good deal from the point of view that Fabian had made it clear he wanted to play Premiership football,” Bates said.

“He was keen to go and we felt it was right to let him go provided we got the right figure. When we got the matter agreed we moved quickly.

“We had accepted an offer from Manchester City on Saturday which they had to go back with to the owner in the Gulf. Then apparently they needed a week to think about it which surprised us, considering the size of the deal.

“The problem was, that with a week, they might have come back and said ‘no’ and that wouldn’t have been fair to Delph, wouldn’t have been fair to Aston Villa, and would have eaten into our season.

“We went back to Villa, and it’s a good decision for Leeds and the player.

“Martin O’Neill has a good record of bringing through young players. He believes in youth and hopefully Fab will get his chance sooner rather than later there.”

Bradford City are set for a 12 per cent pay-off which will equate to around £700,000.

“We get a fee – some of which has to go to Bradford City as part of a sell-on – and there’s contingency built-in, subject to Villa’s performances,” Bates added.

“It’s a substantial fee, it’s a good one for a 19-year-old.”

Delph also admitted to be taken aback by the facilities on offer at his new club.

He added: “I’ve been to look at the ground and it’s absolutely unreal. It’s mind-blowing.

“If I get the chance to play in it and do well I’ll be really chuffed with myself.”

Meanwhile, stand-in skipper Nigel Reo-Coker admitted he was “lost for words” after lifting the Peace Cup.

Reo-Coker captained Villa to victory over Juventus and said: “It has been a very tough tournament and the lads have worked really hard. We performed really well, played some great stuff and showed a lot of character.

“It feels good. That’s what it’s all about. It’s a winning mentality and that is something that has got to stick for the rest of our time here at Aston Villa.

“We had to adapt to a lot of training and we’ve lost a lot of players too for different reasons. But I think credit has to go to the young boys who came in.

“To come in to such a high-level competition, perform as well as they did and to beat the likes of Juventus – a world-famous club – is a tremendous achievement.

“You just have to look at the players out on the pitch – they had about four or five World Cup winners in their squad.

“You have to look at the strength of the team they put out there. They took this tournament very seriously and so did we.”