Everton remain out in front in the race for Liam Delap, with Chelsea now firmly resigned to losing the striker before the window shuts.
According to TEAMtalk, Chelsea have already informed Delap he can leave Stamford Bridge this summer, with the club fully expecting him to have departed by the end of August. New head coach Xabi Alonso has backed the decision, having made clear that Joao Pedro is his first-choice striker after tying the Brazilian down to a new long-term deal.
Delap was left out of the squad entirely for Chelsea’s final pre-season friendly against Real Sociedad, underlining where he stands in the pecking order.
Everton remain at the head of the queue and continue to work on a deal, with Chelsea ready to sell and Delap increasingly focused on finding his next move.
Chelsea are believed to want around £40m for the 23-year-old, having paid roughly £30m to sign him from Ipswich last summer.
It was a tough debut season in west London — just one league goal, with the arrival of Danny Welbeck from Brighton further squeezing his path to regular football.
Delap has reportedly already sent word to Everton that a move north remains his preference, which should count for plenty if Moyes wants to get this done before other suitors circle further.
Worth remembering Everton have been here before with Delap — they were strongly linked before he chose Chelsea last summer — so there’ll be an appetite to see this one actually get over the line.
Our live Everton transfer tracker will monitor the progress of this and other deals.
Source: TEAMtalk
Gary is an experienced football journalist who has written for, among many other, BBC Sport and The Metro, and is now the editor of ReadEverton.com. He leads daily coverage of Everton news, transfers and analysis as part of the dave.sport network. He also writes for ReadManCity.com, ReadMotorsport and ReadNorwich within the same network. When not writing, he enjoys a nice cold pint of Guinness and trips to the cinema ... not always at the same time.
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