**Newcastle United missed out on Liam Delap in the summer as Chelsea beat the Magpies to the signing of the former Ipswich Town striker.**
Delap was one of several striker targets that slipped through Newcastle’s buttery fingers in the summer before they signed Nick Woltemade and Yoane Wissa.
While Nick Woltemade got off to a good start at Newcastle, there are some big question marks over his suitability for Newcastle, with some journalists wondering if he could be quickly moved on in the summer.
With [Newcastle reportedly looking at Liam Delap](https://www.nufcblog.co.uk/2026/03/21/newcastle-interested-in-liam-delap-as-chelsea-eye-40m-deal-report/), for whom things haven’t exactly gone according to plan at the Blues, Chelsea journalist [Simon Phillips](https://siphillipstalkschelsea.substack.com/p/sources-chelsea-seriously-looking) has claimed that Chelsea could look to offer Delap as part of a swap deal to take Woltemade the other way.
Phillips wrote on his Chelsea Substack recently that the Blues were keen on Woltemade, and it seems that he’s now moved to put two and two together and is claiming that a swap deal could be in the offing.
As much as we were keen on Delap joining Newcastle last year, that enthusiasm has certainly faded after watching him in action this season.
With just one goal and one assist in the Premier League this season from 22 appearances, we’d definitely rather stick with Big Nick, thanks.
Simon Phillips also claimed there had been rumblings that Chelsea would like to bring Lewis Hall back to the club, but even Phillips quickly dismissed that one as being practically impossible.
He did seem a bit confident about the Delap/Woltemade story, but realistically, who’s going to sign that one off?
Newcastle, if they are looking to throw the towel in on Woltemade, have a £69 million transfer fee to recoup, and taking £30 million-ish out of that as part of a swap deal still leaves Chelsea with a fee of around £39 million to cough up. We just don’t see Newcastle or Chelsea going for that.
**Rumour Rating**: 1/10 – We like Simon Phillips; we’ve contributed to each other’s sites in the past (as NUFCFEED), but we can’t help but feel he’s reaching here. We get it, it’s a slow news week.