Everton's Pursuit of Liam Delap: A £40 Million Gamble
Everton have been warned: if they want Liam Delap, they’ll have to rip up their own transfer history to get him.
Chelsea have set a £40million asking price for the 23-year-old, a figure that would make Delap the most expensive centre-forward Everton have ever signed and put him right alongside the biggest deals the club has ever done. For a striker with three goals in all competitions last season, it is a bold valuation. Chelsea, though, are standing firm.
A crowded race for Delap
Everton are not alone. Nottingham Forest and Newcastle United are also at the front of the queue, with Leeds United watching from a distance.
Forest’s intent is clear. Oliver Glasner has already shown at Crystal Palace and now at the City Ground that he wants a dominant focal point to his attack. He leaned on Jean-Philippe Mateta in South London, then pushed through a club-record £48million move for Jorgen Strand Larsen on 2 February. He wants Delap next, and owner Evangelos Marinakis is again ready to bankroll his fifth permanent head coach in less than a year.
Newcastle’s pursuit is complicated. Eddie Howe’s five-year tenure ended on Thursday, leaving the club in a holding pattern. Their chosen successor, 38-year-old Matthias Jaissle of Al Ahli, is not yet in place. Recruitment plans sit in limbo until the new man signs off, but the interest in Delap has not disappeared.
Leeds, meanwhile, are lurking rather than lunging. The i paper reports they are monitoring Delap as they look for competition for Dominic Calvert-Lewin. The problem is money. Elland Road finances are tight while they work on a record-breaking £40million deal for goalkeeper James Trafford. Matching Chelsea’s price for Delap on top of that would be a stretch verging on fantasy.
Chelsea dig in
From Stamford Bridge, the message is blunt. Chelsea are in no rush to cash in.
The club believe Delap’s value sits at around £40million, a fee that would bank them a £10million profit after just one season, despite a modest return of one goal in 28 Premier League appearances and two in 41 games across all competitions. They see upside, not dead money.
They also know the market. Delap hit 12 Premier League goals for Ipswich Town in 2024/25. Ipswich went straight back down, but his £30million relegation release clause turned him into one of the summer’s most accessible forwards for ambitious clubs. That clause opened the door to conversations; his performances ensured plenty of people walked through it.
Everton’s long pursuit
Everton were there early. They chased Delap when he left Ipswich, pitching him the chance to be the leading man in a new era at Hill Dickinson Stadium.
In a rare move, David Moyes went public with his admiration. He admitted talks had taken place and that Delap had spoken to “three or four clubs”, conceding Everton were “probably a little bit behind the black ball” but hopeful they could still turn his head. The sales pitch was simple: be the centrepiece, not a supporting act.
It was not enough. Delap chose Chelsea. Champions League football, the pull of London and, crucially, the opportunity to work again under Enzo Maresca, his former coach at Manchester City, tipped the scales.
That plan unravelled quickly. Maresca departed on New Year’s Day. Chelsea then lurched from one bold idea to another, hiring Liam Rosenior on a six-and-a-half-year contract and then dismissing him in under four months. Xabi Alonso is now the man charged with turning the chaos into a coherent project.
Where Delap fits into that remains to be seen. Alonso’s arrival has not softened Chelsea’s stance on the fee. If anything, a new manager with a reputation for improving young talent strengthens their hand. They can keep him and develop him, or sell him only on their terms.
Record territory for Everton
For Everton, those terms are brutal. Pay up, and Delap becomes a landmark signing.
Gylfi Sigurdsson still stands as the club’s record buy at £45million, almost nine years after his arrival. Behind him sit Richarlison and Tyler Dibling, both at initial fees of £35million. Dropping £40million on Delap would not just eclipse every centre-forward deal in their history; it would plant him squarely among the most scrutinised signings the club has ever made.
The question is whether Everton, still rebuilding and still juggling financial realities, can justify that kind of gamble on a striker whose Premier League numbers remain more promise than proof.
The market says this is the going rate for a 23-year-old with physical presence, top-flight experience and room to grow. Chelsea know it. Forest are acting like they believe it. Newcastle might, once their dugout is settled. Leeds can only dream of it for now.
Everton must decide whether they are willing to stake a new era on it.
