Half of the Premier League want to sign Liam Delap

Half of the Premier League want to sign Liam Delap this summer and the 22-year-old reportedly has a £30million relegation release clause in his Ipswich Town contract.

That is very tempting for every top-flight club from Liverpool to Wolves via Manchester United. In a very poor Ipswich side, Delap has scored 13 Premier League goals this season. For £15million, he has been a superb signing.

Some clubs hold bigger advantages than others in the race for the former Manchester City youngster’s signature, but we reckon every Premier League club (obviously disregarding the clubs on their way back down to the Championship) has a trump card of some sort.

Arsenal: Becoming the striker
As per a report from The Athletic, Arsenal are ‘looking elsewhere’ – which appears to be Viktor Gyokeres – for a cheaper alternative to Newcastle United’s Alexander Isak.

Still, Delap is a cost-efficient option and it would be hard for him to turn the Gunners down if they do come calling. Everyone has been saying that Arsenal desperately need a striker and it would be pretty gratifying being the striker that completes Mikel Arteta’s puzzle and wins them the Premier League. And who knows, Arsenal could be European champions when the summer transfer window comes around…

Aston Villa: Ooh, football friends
Delap and Villa attacker Morgan Rogers won the FA Youth Cup together at Man City. Yes, we are running with that and moving swiftly on.

Bournemouth: An ideal stepping stone
Despite signing Evanilson last summer, Bournemouth are reportedly one of the teams interested in signing Delap this summer.

If someone asked you who the biggest stepping stone club in the Premier League is, you would probably say Brighton and we would probably be inclined to agree. A lot of players who use the Seagulls to advance their careers come from abroad though. If you are moving from one English club to another to further your development before a move to an even bigger club, look no further than Andoni Iraola’s middle men.

Brentford: Similar to his dad’s Stoke City
Out of every team in the Premier League right now, Brentford are comfortably the closest to resembling Delap’s father’s old club, Stoke City. The red and white stripes are doing some heavy lifting but there is more to it than that. They love a long throw, albeit a long throw that doesn’t come close to matching Rory Delap’s bullet.

Brighton: Vibes and vibes alone
He is pretty Brighton, isn’t he? Sometimes vibes alone are enough and that is the case here. He stinks of it, fellas.

Chelsea: Enzo Maresca and Joe Shields
Delap’s move to Man City came through their co-director of recruitment and talent Joe Shields and he was then coached by Enzo Maresca. Both are currently at Chelsea and according to that Athletic report, the Blues’ interest is ‘serious’ and they are ‘perhaps best placed for any possible deal’.

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Crystal Palace: Funnily enough, his striker rival
One of the most unrealistic potential destinations for Delap; Palace already have goal machine Jean-Philippe Mateta and spent £30million on Eddie Nketiah last summer.

We still have to give a reason why the 22-year-old might want to move to Selhurst Park and that reason is – perhaps ironically – Mateta’s red-hot form under Oliver Glasner. Mateta was a bang average striker at best until Glasner came along and made him one of the best strikers in the Premier League and a modern day Barclaysman.

Everton: Shiny new stadium and being on the up
David Moyes has brought something of a feel-good factor back to Everton, who are excited to move into a brand new stadium in 2025/26. For the first time in a long time, the Toffees could be a tempting destination for a young talent like Delap – if they are even interested or have the requisite funds.

Fulham: European football
Qualifying for a European competition of some kind seems very possible for an in-form Fulham side. They are a genuinely exciting team and would surely be an attractive option for young Delap, even without Europe. They do have two decent strikers in Raul Jimenez and Rodrigo Muniz but Delap would be an upgrade on both.

Liverpool: Premier League champions
Who wouldn’t want to play for the Premier League champions? Things are looking even more positive now with Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk reportedly edging closer to extending their Anfield contracts.

More importantly, Liverpool need to sign a striker. Links to Delap have intensified in recent weeks and with Darwin Nunez off (and not good enough if he does stay) there is no doubt Arne Slot could do a lot worse.

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Manchester City: Buy-back clause
Delap’s previous employers smartly inserted a buy-back clause in the young striker’s contract when they sold him to Ipswich for £15million. It is believed to be worth £40m and would have been a no-brainer had Pep Guardiola not signed Omar Marmoush in January. That would now be pretty silly to offer considering Delap reportedly has a £30m relegation release clause. Going back and proving himself at the Etihad could appeal and the fact there was a buy-back clause inserted might have convinced the player that a return was always on the cards.

Manchester United: Jason Wilcox
Using boardroom members’ relationships with players has always been a bit naff in my mind but it is something that apparently holds plenty of weight, according to the media anyway. Surely it only really matters when it applies to a manager or a member of the coaching team at the very least. Does it actually matter that Delap has previously been in the same vicinity as Jason Wilcox?

Wilcox was part of the team which brought the striker to the club from Derby County in 2019 and the aforementioned Athletic report states that Man United are ‘very keen’ on signing him for big money this summer.

Delap was on a list of strikers the Red Devils should not think are beneath them and the point still stands – Delap is better than Rasmus Hojlund and Joshua Zirkzee and would cost more than half what they paid for the former and around £10m less than Zirkzee’s transfer fee.

The biggest issue is, and we know This Is Manchester United We Are Talking About, that moving to Old Trafford is far from appealing these days. It could be career suicide for young Delap and if he has the choice of half the league, he would be crazy to pick Ruben Amorim’s side.

Newcastle United: Manchester City versus the Premier League
Man City and the Premier League are at each other’s throats over a few different financial issues and it was recently reported that the former won a legal battle regarding Associated Party Transaction regulations. If they are essentially abolished, Newcastle’s Saudi project could explode.

After winning this season’s Carabao Cup, the floodgates could open for Newcastle and Champions League qualification is very possible. To summarise: things are coming up Milhouse and who wouldn’t want to get involved?

Nottingham Forest: Champions League
Speaks for itself, really. Nottingham Forest should be in the Champions League next season, which is absolutely f**king mental when you properly deep it. Taiwo Awoniyi will likely move on and Chris Wood is not getting any younger. Delap is actually pretty similar to the former with his combination of pace and strength, so this would be a pretty decent fit.

Tottenham Hotspur: Nice stadium
It is really, really difficult to vouch for Spurs, who have Dominic Solanke, Richarlison and Heung-min Son anyway.

West Ham: Ending the curse
A clear disadvantage is that striker signings do not tend to get on very well at West Ham. Unfortunately we could not use the nice stadium gimmick for two clubs in a row, especially considering we did the same thing for Everton.

Advising any striker to join the Hammers would be wrong so the best we can conjure up is the hope that Delap can end the curse and become a successful striker for years under Graham Potter.

Wolves: The Barclaysmen effect
Rumour has it, Delap had a poster of Steven Fletcher on his bedroom wall as a kid. If that is true, he will want to follow in his, Kevin Doyle and Sylvain Ebanks-Blake’s footsteps and go to Molineux.

As you might have noticed, the combination of alphabet fatigue and irrelevance always leaves Wolves coming up short in these one per club features, it is hard to deny.

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