Chelsea are best-placed to land Ipswich Town striker Liam Delap even though he has picked up interest from Manchester United, according to a reporter.
Delap is thriving during his first full season in the Premier League, having registered nine goals and two assists in 23 games so far. The 22-year-old is on his way to becoming a top Premier League centre-forward and it surely will not be long before he gets his first England call-up.
Ipswich currently sit 19th in the table and Delap will almost certainly leave if they are relegated to the Championship.
According to TEAMtalk contributor Ben Jacobs, Chelsea can be considered favourites in the busy race to capture Delap.
“If Arsenal get Sesko, Chelsea then likely would move for Liam Delap. And then we wait and see whether Manchester United, who also appreciate Delap, can influence that situation,” Jacobs said on the Market Madness podcast.
“Of course, Manchester United fans being greedy and not thinking about finances will say, ‘we’ll just get Victor Gyokeres because Ruben Amorim likes him’, but that’s a £70million outlay.”
The journalist continued: “And Delap, I think, is also quite intrigued by the Chelsea project, especially knowing that if he’s the number nine that comes in, he may stand a very strong chance of supplanting or at least competing with Nicolas Jackson, who, we must stress, Chelsea do still have big faith in. So Chelsea and Delap is one to watch.”
With Arsenal ramping up their pursuit of Sesko, it looks increasingly likely that Chelsea will bid for Delap this summer.
While Ipswich will hate to see the England U21 ace leave, they stand to make a significant profit on him. Ipswich originally paid Manchester City £20m for Delap and his value has since shot up to £50m.
That is a big price tag for a player with only one full Prem campaign under his belt. However, Delap has a very exciting career ahead of him, and Chelsea are looking to ensure that it is Stamford Bridge where he thrives in the long run.
Delap has starred against Chelsea
Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca will know what to expect of Delap as the forward shone against his side in December. Delap scored a penalty and registered an assist as Ipswich picked up an impressive 2-0 win over the west London club.
Chelsea may be hoping they pushed harder to sign a No 9 in January as Maresca’s options have diminished of late.
Nicolas Jackson will be out for up to six weeks while he recovers from a hamstring injury suffered against West Ham United at the start of February.
Fellow striker Marc Guiu replaced Jackson in that game, but he picked up a groin problem himself and is facing a lengthy spell on the sidelines.
Chelsea will likely have to rely on Christopher Nkunku up front before they can sign a new striker in the summer.
Other possible striker targets include Victor Osimhen and Jonathan David.
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Meanwhile, Chelsea and Liverpool have both held talks over the prospective signing of Bournemouth’s Milos Kerkez, TEAMtalk can confirm.
Liverpool hope to make Kerkez their successor for Andy Robertson, but Chelsea are posing a serious threat.
Borussia Dortmund winger Jamie Gittens is another player Chelsea are interested in.
Dortmund ‘expect’ the Englishman to move this summer and are ready to accept bids worth between €80-100m, with Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur all considering offers.
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