Eyebrows were raised in the summer when Ipswich Town signed Manchester City striker Liam Delap on a deal worth up to £20 million, but the acquisition has turned out to potentially be one of the bargains of the season.
Delap had had loan spells at Hull City, Preston North End and Stoke City while coming through the ranks at Man City, but had failed to truly establish himself in the Championship.
Now, though, with six goals in 16 Premier League games, the Englishman appears to have taken to the Premier League like a duck to water.
Here is how signing the 21-year-old is turning out to be a shrewd piece of business from the Tractor Boys.
Liam Delap had never really cut it in the Championship
Before last season, Liam Delap had had two six-month loan spells in the Championship with Preston and Stoke, but he was not able to heavily impress with either side.
22 appearances and three goals with the Potters were followed up by 15 games with Preston, during which Delap only found the net once.
However, his breakout season came last year with Hull. The Englishman made 31 league appearances and was a mainstay in Liam Rosenior’s team, scoring eight goals and assisting twice.
At 20 years old this was a decent return, but hardly a season that would have turned heads and had fans talking, especially since Delap endured five and six-game goalless spells during the campaign.
Yet, Ipswich boss Kieran McKenna felt that the son of former Stoke midfielder Rory Delap possessed a great deal of promise, and subsequently splashed £15 million on the striker, with a potential £5 million in add-ons.
This has turned out to be an incredible piece of business.
Liam Delap has set the Premier League alight at Ipswich
With question marks being raised over the transfer fee for a player who had barely managed a goal every four games in the division below, Delap has immediately silenced his doubters.
An incredible 25-yard strike in the Tractor Boys’ home game against Fulham in September catapulted the youngster into the spotlight, and he has only kicked on from there.
A brilliant brace against Aston Villa, which included an incredible half-pitch dribble and clinical finish for Delap’s second goal, marked a performance that any top Premier League striker would have been proud of.
Since then, goals against Brentford, West Ham and Tottenham have taken his tally to a magnificent six for the season. The latter of these also helped Ipswich on their way to their first win in the top flight for over 20 years, which demonstrates the magnitude of Delap’s impact.
One thing that is very recognisable about Delap’s play is his strength and clinical finishing. The big centre-forward stands at 6″1, but his build allows him to out-muscle a plethora of the Premier League’s best defenders.
In particular, Cristian Romero and Radu Dragusin struggled to handle the player in Spurs’ 2-1 defeat to Ipswich, as did Aston Villa’s Pau Torres and Diego Carlos.
Delap has managed six goals from just 12 shots on target, scoring one out of every two shots he directs towards the goal, certainly an impressive figure.
He also maintains an SGA (Shooting Goals Added) of exactly 1.0, which evidences his clinical finishing. SGA is a measure of the quality of a player’s shooting, found by subtracting their xGOT from their xG to find out the efficacy of their efforts on goal.
For context, the SGA’s of Nicolas Jackson, Erling Haaland and Mohamed Salah this season are 0.22, 1.4 and 1.9 respectively, showing Delap to be competing with some of the division’s best. In essence, the 21-year-old is already proving to be lethal in front of goal.
Interest has already been shown in Delap
Despite only signing for Ipswich in the summer, interest in Delap already appears to be rife. Not only do Manchester City have a buy-back clause in the player’s contract, but Chelsea are already reported to have scouted the player multiple times this season.
Other top clubs such as Arsenal and Tottenham have also been mentioned in a potential battle for the Englishman’s signature.
If Ipswich were to be relegated at the end of the season, they would certainly be able to demand a high fee for their main man. £20 million seems like a bargain at this stage, with a host of top-six clubs sniffing around the Tractor Boys’ star asset.
Whether or not Ipswich can hold onto him is tough to call, but one thing is for certain, Delap has a bright future ahead of him at the top level of English football.