Jadon Sancho, Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, Roméo Lavia, Jeremie Frimpong and Cole Palmer, the list of great talents trained at Manchester City who have flourished elsewhere is quite impressive. Among them, we will perhaps be able to add Liam Delap. Son of Rory Delap (48 years old), former Irish midfielder known for his long touches and who notably wore the jersey of Derby County, Southampton, Sunderland and Stoke City, Liam Delap intends to follow in the footsteps of his father by being a established Premier League player. A pure product of the Manchester City team, he had to fight.
Crowned English U23 champion with the Sky Blues in 2021 (24 goals and 5 assists in 20 matches) and 2022 (8 goals and 2 assists in 10 matches), Liam Delap was then a major player in a very talented team with Morgan Rogers (Aston Villa), Cole Palmer (Chelsea), Roméo Lavia (Chelsea) and Felix Nmecha (Borussia Dortmund) and was able to garner 6 appearances (1 goal) for the first team. It was therefore in the loan that he tried to distinguish himself. After two rather complicated seasons with Stoke City and Preston North End, it was last year that he was able to break through with Hull City. In the Championship, he had his first full season with 8 goals and 2 assists in 32 matches in which he had starting status.
Premier League revelation this season
Enough to convince promoted Ipswich Town at the start of the season to bet a little more than 15 million euros (€17.85 million) on him. And if the Tractor Boys’ season is not easy with an 18th place at mid-season, 1 point behind first non-relegation Wolverhampton, the English U21 international (10 caps, 2 goals) has particularly stood out. Quickly installed as a starter by coach Kieran McKenna in a 4-2-3-1 where he is very complementary to Omari Hutchinson (2 goals and 1 gift in 18 matches) who plays in his support, Liam Delap already has 8 goals and 2 assists in 20 games. A complete attacker who participates a lot in the game and is comfortable in small spaces, Liam Delap left his mark on certain big matches such as the reception of Aston Villa (2-2) where he scored a double, the move on the pitch of Tottenham (2-1) where he was a scorer and distilled an offering but also the match against Chelsea on December 30.
A match won 2-0 where he scored and served Omari Hutchinson for the second goal. A performance where he received praise from his coach Kieran McKenna who praised his progress: “there were so many outstanding individual performances, but Liam was fantastic. There is no doubt about it. I told people around the club that he was improving and that he was a different beast than he was in July. We’re seeing this rate of improvement in a 21 year old, showing the increased maturity he’s showing, the desire to improve and that’s a really positive sign at 21 years old. I don’t think he’s thinking about the selection to be honest. Liam is a fun guy. He knows how to stay in the present moment.» Future of English football, Liam Delap has finally been able to translate all the talent shown at Manchester City. The Sky Blues can bite their fingers.
