Update: Jason Wilcox and Pep Guardiola praise – Liam Delap journey to potential Manchester United transfer News

Man Utd need a new striker this summer and Ipswich forward Liam Delap has been linked with a move to Old Trafford.

Ipswich striker Liam Delap is set to be available for £30million in the summer transfer window.

There is a reported relegation clause in Delap’s contract at Portman Road, which has caught the attention of Manchester United, Chelsea and a handful of other Premier League clubs.

Ipswich could perform a miraculous escape, but it seems inevitable they will go down and Delap’s relegation clause will be triggered. The powerful young striker has scored 12 goals in his debut Premier League season and some pundits have quietly whispered comparisons between Delap and Harry Kane.

It’s not difficult to see why United would be interested in Delap. He will be attainable for a value fee, he possesses huge potential and has historic links to United’s technical director, Jason Wilcox.

Wilcox is now a prominent decision-maker at Old Trafford, but he was involved in the signing of Delap from Derby County during his time in charge of Manchester City’s academy.

Shortly after joining City’s academy, Delap was given his first-team debut in September 2020 against Bournemouth in the Carabao Cup and he scored a brilliant goal at the Etihad.

Pep Guardiola was impressed and said: “He’s a different striker to what we have in terms of physicality. We see in training how good a finisher he is. He has to be calm and keep working.”

Mark Sellers was Head of PE during Delap’s time at Ecclesbourne School in Derby for his secondary education and he spoke to the Manchester Evening News about the young striker’s rise.

“I thought he was going to take an extra touch and go around the keeper, I didn’t expect him to ping it and hit the ball into the top corner,” Sellers said about Delap’s debut goal. “There’s a colleague of mine that taught Liam for a few years as well and he messaged me straight away.

“He asked if I had seen it, and I was like ‘oh mate, that is magic’. It was such a proud moment.”

Delap went on to make a total of six senior appearances for City, but he was sent on three loans to Stoke, Preston and Hull before being sold on a permanent transfer to Ipswich in July 2024.

Although the Winchester-born lad was prolific at academy level, it took Delap time to find his feet in the Championship and he scored 12 goals in 70 combined appearances during his loans.

Ipswich identified potential, though, and agreed a deal worth £20m to sign Delap for their return to the topflight. Kieran McKenna’s side are set to be relegated, but Delap has enjoyed an excellent campaign and some United supporters believe he could be the answer to the team’s goalscoring woes.

Others have argued it would be a mistake for United to sign another inexperienced forward. Delap is four days younger than Rasmus Hojlund and the Denmark international has struggled with pressure.

It would objectively be a risk for United to pin their hopes on another 22-year-old striker – the most important position on the pitch – but it could be a gamble that emphatically pays off.

“He was so much physically stronger than the other kids, and his stature, I remember looking at him when he was 13-years-old and thinking he was built like a man,” explained Sellers.

“Other kids would have looked at his physique and stature and would have been intimidated just by looking at him and that’s what really stood him apart. I used to joke that I would make him famous.”

However, as the son of former Premier League footballer Rory Delap, he was never a stranger to fame. “The great thing about his parents, they kept him very grounded,” Sellers said.

“Rory has been there himself and will know the pitfalls of going on to become a professional footballer, and from what I gather, Mum was a decent sportswoman in her own right.”

Delap has been a handful for seasoned defenders this term. He has the perfect blend of physical attributes to excel in the Premier League, and was successful across different sports as a kid.

“Liam played rugby and he did athletics, he was very quick. He was a 100m and 200m sprinter, and he’d throw the javelin a long way which is what his dad used to do in school,” said Sellers.

“My tactic when we played rugby was to just give the ball to Delap and let him run with it, and say ‘off you go Liam, score us a try’. He was so quick and strong, the other kids couldn’t handle him. It would basically be 15 lads just chasing Liam with a rugby ball in his hand, it was a sight to behold.”

Sellers continued: “Liam was a really bright lad, he was a really clever lad. He was a very good mathematician and geographer. If he had not gone on to have a career in football, he would have been able to turn his hand towards anything academically. He’s very determined, and the world would have been his oyster in terms of what he could have gone on to achieve.”

Delap spent some of his most formative years at Ecclesbourne. His athleticism made him popular with his peers, but no kid goes through school without some sort of embarrassment.

Sellers laughed and recalled an anecdote. “We were playing football against another local school team in Derby and I think Liam would have been in Year 8,” he said. “We were losing 3-1 and we’re into the second half and Liam wasn’t having his best game, so I said ‘Liam, what’s the matter?’

“He said ‘I need to come off!’ and I said, ‘are you kidding, we’re losing here, why do you want to come off?’ He then reveals that he needs to go to the toilet, so I said, ‘go on then, just go across to the hedges’ and he replied ‘I need to go to the toilet, not that kind of toilet!’

“We used to share our fields with the primary school, so I told him he’d have to go across and use their toilet. Luckily, he did although when he returned we were still losing by two goals.

“So, he goes back on, there are 10 minutes to play and we’re still losing the game 3-1. Anyways, with the last kick of the game, we won 4-3 and Liam scored all four goals!”

“He was always really competitive through school, even sports day. He wanted to win the prize for winning the most points on all the events, he was such a competitive young man.”

Delap was asked for a signed City shirt by his school and perhaps he will deliver a United shirt in the future.

He is a young striker on the rise and his next destination could be Old Trafford.