Liam Delap emerged from the Manchester City academy, earning minutes sporadically, but was unable to break through into the first team as expected.
The competition in the striker role was also a hot topic at Man City.
At first, it was Sergio Agüero.
Once he left, Pep Guardiola began using a false 9 system, and Liam Delap’s style of play didn’t fit that role, as he’s more of a pure striker.
Since the 2022/23 season, Delap has been on loan, attempting to secure consistent playing time.
However, on July 13, 2024, he joined Ipswich Town for a €17.85m fee, which was a significant increase from his market value of €8m.
This season, he’s finally proving his worth at the top flight, playing 30 matches for the club in the Premier League and 2,349 minutes, scoring 12 goals and two assists—not bad for your first time getting starter minutes in the top flight.
But now that he’s had that breakthrough season, many clubs are eyeing him up for a potential transfer.
In this football scouting report, we will examine Liam Delap’s player profile, his strengths, what makes him unique, his potential as a player, and what we believe are the next best steps for his career.
Who Is Liam Delap?
Delap is a young striker with lots of potential, particularly around the box.
He has an excellent eye and is great at repositioning himself and adapting to changing scenarios.
He’s not a static striker who stays in one place.
He likes to move around and understand how he should be positioned for the ball.
He has that clean ball-striking ability you see in the best strikers: Cristiano Ronaldo, Robert Lewandowski, Luis Suárez, the players who can strike the ball from all angles with very clean hits.
And Liam Delap can work with both his feet.
His movement with his back to the goal is also excellent, similar to Romelu Lukaku.
He knows how to turn and twist away from his opponent by using his body to escape that space.
Additionally, due to his physical frame and strength, he can hold players off with his arms, similar to the video demonstration from his Everton days, in which Lukaku shows how he likes to spin off players to then look at the goal.
Liam Delap possesses a similar ability; he can use his arms to create space against the opponent through quick body movements and turns.
A problem with Delap is his decision-making on the ball at times.
His technical ability is solid, but he often takes too long strides.
Think of why players like Suárez were so good as strikers: Little touches and movements, keeping the ball close to you and controlling your space.
Often, Liam takes touches too far and accelerates too much, which prevents him from slowing down and gaining control.
Due to his intelligence, movement, understanding of the game, and physical frame, he has excellent build-up and link-up play.
One area of his game where he slightly lacks is creative ability, but that will improve over time.
Liam Delap Player Radar Map
His radar map isn’t the most attractive profile, but that’s expected as he’s just starting out in top-flight football.
His shots per 90 (58.8 percentile) are a bit low for a striker, but he surprisingly ranks very well in dribbles per 90 (85th percentile).
He also ranks average in goal contributions per 90 (50.7 percentile), though his actual G/A this season is solid given the context.
His aerial duels won per 90 (64.4 percentile) is decent, but with his physical frame, you’d expect him to be even more dominant.
Liam Delap Attacking Positioning & Finishing
His movement in the box to understand where the ball is headed and where he should be if he can’t be on the end of it makes him a great poacher.
As we see above, not a single defender is marking him—he’s slipping in behind and understands where this ball will land before finishing it.
Now it’s time to stay calm under pressure and finish the ball, which he does in a very confined space where the keeper comes out; he keeps his composure to finish the equation.
He understands where to be in order to be a viable option, occupying the gap in between all the defenders.
Knowing his teammate will go for the cutback, he positions himself perfectly aligned to get a clean strike on the ball to score.
It’s the Ronaldo movement in the box—sensing where the ball will be and understanding your teammates.
Combined with Delap’s strong finishing, it’s a recipe for success.
Liam Delap Shots Map
11 goals on 9.16 xG means he’s overperforming his xG.
Overperforming your xG is very difficult.
Even players with “clinical” reputations like Agüero and Ronaldo don’t overperform their xG in the long run.
Even EPL legends like Vardy or Harry Kane, who are known for being clinical, have only overperformed their xG by ~13% in the long run.
Someone outside of this range is an outlier like Lionel Messi, who overperforms his xG by about 25%.
So, for him to be slightly overachieving it at a young age, just starting at top-flight football, is a good sign of his clinical nature.
Liam Delap Heat Map
Of course, since he’s a striker, you’ll see his heat map very high and central up, but it’s also interesting to see some heat on the left side of the map, where he looks to drift out wide at times in transition or get some touches on the ball.
Liam Delap Link-Up Play & Creativity
Liam Delap Assist pic.twitter.com/OcauxEXfvB
— Footie Clips (@FootieClips) April 13, 2025
There are a few things Delap does well in the video above, as well as some mistakes.
In this example of his final third pass, he does a great job of keeping the ball close to his body on the dribble.
But at the very end, his touch is a bit too heavy, something mentioned earlier where he tends to take his strides too long.
He shows patience and control up to that point, but his full turn is awkward and kills the momentum of his run.
It ends up working as he lays it off, but usually, that would end the sequence.
This clip showcases both the pros and cons of his game.
In these scenarios where the team can look to go long on a throw-in or a goal kick, it’s beneficial to have a player like Delap.
Due to his height, he can win those aerial duels or hold up play with his physical frame.
It’s just a matter of contesting for those chances more often, which you don’t see from him consistently yet.
Liam Delap Link-Up Play pic.twitter.com/uxGJ5S42z9
— Footie Clips (@FootieClips) April 13, 2025
His link-up play is phenomenal.
Given the fact he’s played at a top club like Man City, where even academy players face pressure and high expectations, he’s shown the ability to work under pressure quite well compared to other young strikers in the world.
He’s clearly capable of dribbling himself out of tight spaces, buying his team time in link-up play before releasing the ball in a better scenario.
Liam Delap Penetrating Carries Map
From his penetrating carries map, you can see that he has more of those on the left.
However, interestingly, they mostly come from the very corner of the box, often taking on the goal from the same angle the majority of the time.
He’s a good dribbler, as seen from his radar map earlier.
He just needs to work a bit on his stride and keep the ball closer to his feet rather than letting it run away from him.
Liam Delap Ball Progression Map
He tends to drift more to the left, where he feels more comfortable; that’s why you see more of his progressive dribbles coming from that area.
It’s not a bad-filled ball progression map for a youngster in his first consistent minutes in the Premier League.
Conclusion
In terms of his future career, many top EPL clubs, such as Chelsea or Manchester United, are eyeing the player for a Liam Delap transfer, but I think it may be too soon for such a significant leap.
A significant mistake in today’s game is top clubs acquiring a player after just one good season.
They put them in a very competitive team and expect them to play amazingly instantly, which is why many of these types of transfers have failed in recent years.
It’s more beneficial for him to stay with Ipswich Town if they can stay up in the Premier League for next season.
However, if they don’t, another smaller EPL team would be good for him to secure consistent minutes and improve a bit more before making that big leap.
If Alexander Isak were to leave, a team like Newcastle United might be a suitable option, but that may still be a significant leap right now.
