Manchester United believe they have key advantage in Liam Delap transfer race

Liam Delap is set to be one of the transfer sagas of the summer and Manchester United feel they are in a good position to win the race for his signature.

The Ipswich Town striker has been very impressive during a difficult season for the Tractor Boys in the Premier League, which looks likely to be doomed for relegation.

The 22-year-old has scored 10 goals in 28 league outings, a very decent return considering Ipswich have spent much of the campaign in the relegation zone.

It has certainly been good enough to attract the attention of a string of top clubs, with Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool, Newcastle and his former club Manchester City all believed to be weighing up a move for the England Under-21 international.

Delap is under contract at Portman Road until 2029 but Mail+ reports that he has a release clause worth ‘in the region of £40m’ while Manchester City also have a buy-back clause after selling him to Ipswich for £20m last year.

The race to sign the striker, therefore, is going to be a difficult one to win, but Manchester United feel they have an ace up their sleeve.

Jason Wilcox is the technical director at Old Trafford and knows Delap well from their time together at Manchester City.

The former England international joined Manchester City’s academy as a coach in 2012 and made his way up the ranks to academy director in 2017, eventually leaving to become Southampton’s director of football in 2023.

Delap joined City from Derby County in 2019 and worked under Wilcox in the academy before loan spells at Stoke, Preston and Hull.

The Red Devils will hope that their technical director will be able to persuade Delap his future lies at Old Trafford and not with the string of other clubs interested in signing him.

Clearly it is a heavyweight list of clubs credited with interest in Delap this summer but after enjoying being a regular starter with Ipswich it may well be the one that offers him the likeliest amount of game time which appeals to him.

Capped 12 times by England Under-21s, Delap will see a place in the senior squad at next year’s World Cup as a realistic goal.

However, his chances will be severely diminished if he moves to a club where he will be largely sitting on the bench for the 2025/26 season.

Ipswich chairman Mark Ashton has been coy on the nature of Delap’s release clause, suggesting the club are in a very good position with his deal.

‘What I would say is that what’s been reported is never quite fact,’ Ashton told the East Anglian Daily Times. ‘It would be remiss of me to speak about any individual player, you know I am going to say that.

‘What I can say is that in January there was interest in a number of our players from a number of Premier League clubs. But ownership were great, it was “you don’t have to sell”.

‘So look, we’re not an easy club to buy from, because we have such strong ownership. Obviously there is always a natural point in time when a player has to move. That’s the cycle of life, it’s the cycle of football. But we are very, very, very well protected with all of that.’

Speaking on his own future in February, Delap told the East Anglian Daily Times: ‘It’s engrained in us as footballers.

‘It’s so important, especially for me, to focus on where I’m at now. I’m so happy here, I’m enjoying it so much here. I just look forward to playing football. I take every game as it comes and focus on the next.

‘It is something that I try and stay away from. People around me have told me to stay away from it, it’s something that I’m very good at in focusing on what I want to do. That’s playing football here.

‘I’m really enjoying my time here and I enjoy playing every week. That’s the most important thing.

‘We know, as players and people, that there is noise. If we have a bad game and people are slating us for not performing or getting the right results, we stay focused on ourselves and what we have to achieve.’

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