· 29 May 2025, 18:00
**Newcastle United were one of several clubs waiting on a decision from Ipswich Town striker Liam Delap as to where the young forward would play his football next season.**
It now looks as though Chelsea are the ones who have won that race after lifting the Europa Conference League trophy last night.
Sky Sports' Kaveh Solhekol believes everything was, in fact, agreed ahead of kick-off in Poland last night, but Chelsea wanted to keep it under wraps so as not to distract their players ahead of the final.
[The Northern Echo](https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/sport/25199190.newcastle-united-set-miss-liam-delap-turns-chelsea/) have reported the main reason why Delap chose Chelsea over Newcastle, and it was precisely the reason we've been fearing.
Liam Delap has opted for Chelsea over Newcastle as he believes he'll get more first-team opportunities
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Delap wanted guarantees of game time, which Newcastle simply couldn't give due to their main striker being Alexander Isak.
We have been saying for a while that we expect this very reason will be what rules us out of Jonathan David's thinking as clubs scramble for the free agent's signature this summer.
When you have one of the best strikers in the world on the books, and you only play with one striker, it's going to be very hard to convince another top striker to join, knowing that they are going to be playing second-fiddle.
Finding a top striker to join Newcastle United is a mammoth task
----------------------------------------------------------------
Callum Wilson is expected to leave the club when his contract expires this summer which would leave Eddie Howe with just Will Osula as a backup for Alexander Isak, and youngster Sean Neave, neither of whom have really proven themselves yet, especially Neave who may have a cup winner's medal, but hasn't played a single minute of first-team football.
Newcastle will have other targets in mind beyond Delap and David, for sure, but we may have to temper our expectations when it comes to the level of striker we can sign, purely for the fact that not many top stars are going to want to have to compete with Alexander Isak for game time.
I'm sure Paul Mitchell will sort the job out ... oh wait!