Paul Robinson offers an interesting reason as to why he does not expect Manchester City to compete with Spurs in the race for Liam Delap.
Manchester City
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Do Man City have the option to buy back Liam Delap?
Delap has set the Premier League alight since swapping Man City for Ipswich Town in the summer, with the striker having found the back of the net six times in 13 matches so far this season.
It has been widely reported over recent weeks that Tottenham are at the front of the queue to secure the 21-year-old’s signature in January.
The Athletic’s David Ornstein was the latest to report on Spurs’ interest in the striker a few days ago, but interestingly, he pointed out that City tend to always add a buy-back clause when they sell their young players.
Ipswich Town
Photo by SpursWeb
Paul Robinson does not expect City to be involved
It remains unclear if City do have an option to buy back their academy graduate and whether they have any interest in exercising such an option if it exists.
However, Robinson does not expect the Premier League champions to do that, pointing out that they have rarely done so when they have moved on other players in the past.
When asked about Delap’s future and a potential return to the Etihad Stadium, the former Spurs goalkeeper told Football Insider: “He’s [Liam Delap] only just signed this season and started playing. It’s just a deal that’s not going to happen, you’ve seen Cole Palmer go, that’s the thing with Manchester City’s younger players.
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“They’re not afraid to let the younger players go out, they realize that they’ve got to play football they also realize about the FFP and PSR situation. To bring him back it’s almost admitting that you got it wrong.”
Ipswich Town
Robinson on Liam Delap and his Ipswich future
However, Robinson is fairly confident that Liam Delap will not remain at the Portman Road Stadium for too long, amid links with the likes of Spurs.
He opined that the England Under-21 international is guaranteed to leave the newly promoted side if they fail to preserve their Premier League status.
The pundit added: “If Ipswich continues struggling this season, I can’t see him leaving until the summer, I think it’s a summer deal.
“If Ipswich do struggle this season, but he keeps scoring the goals like he’s doing, he’ll be a Premier League player next year, that’s for sure.”
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