Chelsea land transfer breakthrough as Guardiola makes special

Liam Delap during Ipswich Town’s clash against Chelsea.

Chelsea have been given a huge boost to their hopes of signing Ipswich’s Liam Delap. The 21-year-old striker has been heavily linked with a move to Stamford Bridge recently as Enzo Maresca looks to bolster his frontline.

Delap, who sees his contract at Portman Road expire in June 2029, has already featured 20 times for Ipswich in the Premier League this season, scoring eight goals and providing two assists in the process. Playing a key role in Kieran McKenna’s side, the England Under-21 international has given the promoted outfit a shot at survival.

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His impressive performances haven’t gone under the radar, with numerous top clubs – including Chelsea – said to be interested in securing his signature. In fact, football.london understands the west London team are long-time admirers of Delap, who joined Ipswich from Manchester City in the summer for £20million.

It’s believed that it won’t be easy to lure the Englishman away from Suffolk this month, and nor will it be cheap in any case. According to the The Daily Mail, Chelsea are the frontrunners in the race to sign Delap – with a proposed deal driven by Joe Shields and Stewart Thompson – who both previously worked with the striker at City.

The report states that the Premier League champions included a buyback clause at over £30million into Delap’s deal – which could give them leverage over the Blues. In the meantime, The Daily Mail also reckon Pep Guardiola has a special plan for the striker when City play Ipswich on Sunday afternoon.

“Liam, we know from here, he’s so aggressive,” said the Catalan when the two teams last met. And, ahead of this weekend’s meeting, Guardiola said: “He’s doing really well. Many players came up from this academy.

“They are set up perfectly in the Premier League. When he was here, always we thought he was a typical striker for the Premier League. He’s doing really well and we’re happy for him.”

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Maresca, who also coached Delap in City’s academy, reunited with the striker when Ipswich defeat Chelsea 2-0 at Portman Road last month. Speaking to reporters ahead of that clash, the Blues boss said: “Liam is a fantastic player and also for his age.

“I think we spent one year together and I think he scored 22, 24 goals and he’s a very good striker.

“In England, they have many like him – and they have many good players – good strikers and he’s working hard off the ball, on the ball he understands the game and can score goals. And also because of his age, I think he can also be an important player for England.”