Manchester United have identified Ipswich Town’s Liam Delap as their priority striker to sign in the summer.
The club are desperate to have a reliable striker who can add to the club’s goal tally, instead of relying on Bruno Fernandes.
Rasmus Hojlund has failed to provide consistency in the final third, leading to his potential departure at the end of the season.
But why are United looking to Delap as their upgrade and can he help to transform The Red Devils’ attack?
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Prior interest in Liam Delap
The Manchester United hierarchy and coaching staff look significantly different now to how it did even a year ago, but as such, bring a significant range of new experiences and connections to Old Trafford.
With it comes several links to Delap which previously wouldn’t have existed.
Firstly comes with Omar Berrada, United’s Chief Executive Officer who was at Manchester City between 2016 and 2024, with Delap coming through the City youth academy between 2019 and 2024.
However a more direct link from his time at the Etihad come with United’s technical director, Jason Wilcox, who was City’s academy manager between 2017 and 2023 before moving to Southampton for a year before joining The Red Devils.
After leaving The Etihad, Wilcox’s interest in Delap continued, with the director wanting The Saints to sign the young striker.
Completely separately in an interesting move comes the fact that Sporting Lisbon tried to sign Liam Delap which Ruben Amorim was managing there, giving United’s manager an insight into Delap from the Portuguese club’s scouting network.
With all three men who had separate interests in Delap now being under one roof, it’s no surprise that he’s emerged as United’s primary target.
But how will he fair for The Red Devils?
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Delap’s breakthrough Premier League season
Whilst Delap made two Premier League appearances with Manchester City, one against Leicester in 2020 and one against Norwich in 2022, they can’t really be used to gauge his ability, with a combined 47 minutes for the club.
However, this season with Ipswich has been a very different story.
With 12 goals and two assists in 32 games, Delap is currently the 12th highest goal scorer in the league, only two goals away from the top ten.
For any club that would be a good showing, with the stand out attackers this season being Liverpool’s Mo Salah on 27, then Newcastle United’s Alexander Isak and Manchester City’s Erling Haaland on 21.
However, for a club set to be relegated, this is a truly impressive feat, with Delap scoring 36% of Ipswich’s league goals this season, with his two assists meaning he’s contributed towards 42% of Ipswich’s league goals.
Whilst Delap hasn’t registered any goals against the top four teams in the league, he has delivered against clubs in the top half of the table with three goals against Aston Villa, including a brace, and individual goals against Tottenham Hotspur, when they were in 7th place, Chelsea, Fulham, and Bournemouth.
Some notable performances came with Ipswich’s away 2-1 win over Spurs with Delap grabbing a goal and an assist. and doing the same in their 2-0 win over Chelsea at home.
This shows that he has what it takes to shine in the Premier League, carrying the weight of Ipswich’s attack. So it’s fair to assume that his goal tally would be even higher for one of the top clubs.
All of this would be enough to justify United’s interest in the young striker, but the fact he’s only £30 million as well makes him an absolute bargain that United would be foolish to not pursue.
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