The 22-year-old striker has enjoyed an eye-catching debut campaign in the Premier League since joining the newly-promoted Blues in a £20m deal last summer.
Numerous clubs - most notably Chelsea and Manchester United - have been credited with interest in the powerful 10-goal front man, who recently [trained with the England senior team](https://www.eadt.co.uk/sport/25018432.ipswich-town-liam-delap-joins-england-training-session/).
It's been widely reported that Manchester City inserted a 20% sell-on and buy-back clauses in his sale, with [The Athletic pegging the latter at £40m](https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6133075/2025/02/13/viktor-gyokeres-liam-delap-and-man-uniteds-search-for-the-ideal-ruben-amorim-striker/).
Mark Ashton says the club 'are very well-protected' in terms of Liam Delap _(Image: PA)_ “What I would say is that what's been reported is never quite fact," said Ashton, when asked about the above.
“It would be remiss of me to speak about any individual player, you know I'm going to say that.
“What I can say is that in January there were was interest in a number of our players from a number of Premier League clubs.
“But ownership were great. It was ‘you don't have to sell’.
“So look, we're not an easy club to buy from, because we have such strong ownership.
“Obviously there is always natural point in time when a player has to move. That's the cycle of life, it's the cycle of football.
“But we are very, very, very well protected with all of that."
So he won’t confirm or deny the existence of a buy-back clause for Delap?
Delap has been a breakout star in the top tier this season _(Image: PA)_ “No. Look, it would be remiss of me to do that. I would actually be in breach of contract for talking in any kind of detail," replied the Blues chief.
“All I would say to the fans is that hopefully an element of trust has been built with us since we took over. We know what we're doing and we're well, well protected."
Is it fair to say, then, that players would only leave on Ipswich's terms this summer?
"Hell, yes," is Ashton's trademark response.