According to reports, Town and Manchester City have reached an agreement over striker Liam Delap.
Delap visited Town on Thursday and took a look around, as TWTD reported yesterday. He also made comparable visits to other teams.
Although the magnitude of the interest was downplayed, things seem to have progressed swiftly, as The Athletic reports that Town and City have now agreed on a £15 million cost with an additional £5 million in add-ons. There are reports elsewhere that the agreement included a repurchase provision and a sell-on of about 20%.
The former England U16, U17, U18, U19, U20, and U21 international has also agreed to terms with Southampton; nevertheless, the 21-year-old has chosen to sign with the Blues and is anticipated to go through a physical on Wednesday. It is not thought that personal terms will be a barrier.
In 2019, City plucked Delap, the son of former Stoke long throw specialist Rory, from Derby County’s junior setup.
He has since been on loan at Stoke, Preston, and Hull City, where he scored eight goals in 26 starts and six substitute appearances during the previous campaign.
The 6′ 1″ striker, who has a deal with City through the summer of 2026, has made two substitute appearances in the Premier League and four cup appearances for his home club, tallying three goals.
With Town having placed a second bid for both central defender Jacob Greaves and winger Jaden Philogene this summer, Delap is the third player of the Tigers team from the previous year to be discussed in relation to the Blues.
In response to Delap’s warning, Blues manager McKenna said in October that he had substituted George Edmundson for Cameron Burgess in his starting lineup for Hull’s visit to Portman Road.
“I just wanted to put George in tonight, Cameron’s fine,” he remarked. “We felt that he has been training really well and that he has performed really well in the cup competitions. I believed that his attributes against Liam Delap tonight would be very significant.”
“Against one of the league’s more formidable runners, there aren’t many runners with greater strength than George.”
In order to compete with George Hirst when they return to the Premier League, Town has been looking for another center striker.
A couple of weeks ago, the Blues made their second proposal for striker Fotis Ioannidis, which was rejected as well, for a total of €25 million (£21.1 million) to Panathinaikos.
Since then, there had been little development in that area, and it appeared that the Blues had chosen to explore other options. Ioannidis is anticipated to sign with Bologna in Serie A.
Sheffield United is reportedly interested in 31-year-old former Blues striker Kieffer Moore, who spent the past season back on loan with Town from AFC Bournemouth and scored seven goals.
