Ipswich Town manager Kieran McKenna has confirmed the recent speculation that suggested Liam Delap had spent the week discussing a potential move elsewhere.
A few days ago it was reported that the striker, who has a £30m relegation release clause in his Ipswich contract, had travelled north for talks with Manchester United over a switch to Old Trafford. And it was also believed that Delap was to hold further discussions with the likes of Newcastle United and Chelsea as he weighed up his options.
McKenna has now ratified those stories, revealing that the 22-year-old will almost certainly leave Portman Road this summer.
Liam Delap has been talking to other clubs. Picture: Barry Goodwin
“Liam’s looking at his options for next year, which I think he’s entitled to do and we support him with that,” said McKenna.
“I think we’ve given him permission to do that this week. It’s a very important decision for his future.
“Of course, there’s a lot of interest and rightly so, so I think part of his week has been having some of those conversations.
“It looks more likely than not that he’ll move on this summer and he has interest from pretty much every club in the league, and I don’t think there are many clubs in the world who wouldn’t want to have him.
“I think it’s more likely than not Liam will move on. Nothing’s sorted, nothing’s done or completed or even very, very, very close, so that process will take its course.
“We’ll be proud of the part that we’ve had in terms of Liam’s development and his contribution this season.
“If he stays with us, we’ll be delighted, and if he moves on this summer, it will be a positive sign for the club, a positive step for the club to have developed and sold a player at that sort of level and hopefully it will be a good move for him as well.”
Delap is Ipswich’s leading scorer this season with 12 Premier League goals.