Chelsea and Manchester United are in a tussle for Liam Delap, whose release clause can be revealed to fall to £30m in the event of Ipswich Town being relegated from the Premier League.
Delap has enjoyed a breakout campaign since leaving Manchester City, scoring 12 goals in 33 appearances, and clubs tracking the striker’s progress will not have to pay a huge fee to sign him this summer.
It is understood that suitors who looked at buying Delap from City last year were informed of the need to meet specific financial and contractual conditions during talks over a deal. Interested parties were told they would have to come to the table and wait for the player to decide on his destination.
Ipswich ended up signing Delap for £15m plus £5m in add ons after their promotion and the 22-year-old has played a prominent role in their attempt to stay up. But Kieran McKenna’s side are 12 points below 17th placed Wolves with seven games to go and their hopes of a bigger fee for the England Under-21 international will be hit if they go down.
The issue for Ipswich is not only that City have a 20% sell-on clause. Delap’s release clause dropping to £30m in the event of relegation is likely to cause a stir at Chelsea and United, with both sides looking to bolster their attacking options. United have Delap high on a shortlist that also includes Sporting’s Viktor Gyökeres, Eintracht Frankfurt’s Hugo Ekitike and Napoli’s Victor Osimhen. Chelsea, who have a policy of signing young players on heavily incentivised deals, are also heavily in the running and will have a chance to watch Delap when they host Ipswich on Sunday.
Jason Wilcox, United’s technical director, knows Delap well from his time at City. Chelsea also have several staff members who were at City and could use those links to their advantage. Gyökeres and RB Leipzig’s Benjamin Sesko have also been tracked by Chelsea.
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Newcastle United and Liverpool have also been credited with an interest in Delap. City have a buyback option but are unlikely to trigger it. Delap wants regular football and would be behind Erling Haaland and Omar Marmoush if he rejoined City.