A year ago Liam Delap had Manchester United and Everton chasing him and picked Chelsea. Now Chelsea have decided they can live without him, and Nottingham Forest are about to spend more on a footballer than they ever have.
Forest have agreed a fee of around £50m for the 23-year-old striker. He is expected to have a medical and sign a long-term deal at the City Ground this week.
One league goal, and that was that
The bare number looks brutal: one Premier League goal in a season. The context softens it a little. Delap spent large chunks of the campaign dealing with a shoulder problem and then a hamstring, and a striker who is never fit for two months at a stretch rarely finds any rhythm. Chelsea paid Ipswich Town £30m for him last summer. They will bank a profit and move on, having already brought in Emmanuel Emegha from Strasbourg and Danny Welbeck from Brighton.
Across his career he has 13 goals in 67 Premier League appearances. That is a modest return for a fee this size, and Forest know it.
Why Forest are paying anyway
Watch Saturday's game back and the logic is obvious enough. Forest lost 1-0 at home to Leeds on the opening weekend, and neither Chris Wood nor Igor Jesus managed to hit the target. Oliver Glasner has a squad that has been rearranged around him rather than built for him.
The money is there because Forest have sold well. Elliot Anderson went to Manchester City for a club-record £116m. Taiwo Awoniyi joined Coventry City for £9m. Ousmane Diomande arrived from Sporting for £34m, with Austrian midfielder Xaver Schlager and goalkeeper Steve Benda picked up on free transfers. Delap is the piece the window was always building towards.
The long way round
Delap came through Derby County's academy before Manchester City took him in 2019. He won the FA Youth Cup, then scored 24 goals in 20 Premier League 2 games as City took that title in 2020-21. He scored on his senior City debut too, a 2-1 League Cup win over Bournemouth in September 2020. Three days later he made his Premier League debut and City lost 5-2 to Leicester.
Then it stalled. Injuries, and a squad where a young English centre-forward was never going to get minutes ahead of the players in front of him. Loans followed at Stoke, Preston North End and Hull City between 2022 and 2024. City sold him to Ipswich for £20m and he answered with 12 goals in 37 Premier League games for a side that went straight back down.
That is the version of Delap that Forest are buying. Not the one who spent last season in and out of a treatment room.
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