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Captain Fabian Delph has not travelled out with the Aston Villa squad for their pre season training camp in Portugal.

Tim Sherwood's men jetted off without the skipper from Birmingham airport this morning for their warm weather getaway in the Algarve.

But Delph's absence is believed to be because his wife Natalie is expecting their second child, rather than having anything to do with ongoing speculation linking him with a move to Manchester City. The couple already have a young daughter, Sofia.

Check out our gallery of Villa pre season training photos

Villa's tour is scheduled to last 10 days.

The team will play practice matches against Fulham and Sporting Braga as Sherwood and his coaches strive to whip them into shape ahead of the new Premier League season.

Delph returned to pre season training with the rest of the squad on Monday, passing up the chance to take extra time off after being on international duty.