How human wrecking-ball Delap is leading Ipswich's survival charge

If there is hope for Ipswich Town, then it comes in the sizeable frame of Liam Delap.

The 21-year-old’s latest all-action performance helped the Tractor Boys triumph at Portman Road at the 10th time of asking in the Premier League this term.

When he is at his best – and his display in vanquishing Champions League-chasing Chelsea was as close to perfection as you will see – Delap is the unplayable target man bullying his way to the top of the game.

Where some strikers see a lost cause, it is Delap who can only spot an opportunity to wreak havoc.

The son of former Stoke midfielder Rory Delap, the sight of this fleet-footed striker with socks halfway down his shins, barging into defenders, is a throwback to yesteryear.

How Delap is spearheading survival push

Kieran McKenna, the Ipswich manager, has hailed the Manchester City academy graduate as a “different beast” to the player signed in July after mixed loan spells with Stoke, Preston and Hull.

So impressive has Delap been since signing a five-year contract with Ipswich last summer, a maiden England call-up may not be too far away. The player is already alerting potential suitors.

“He’s trying to improve every day and take on the challenge of playing in the Premier League,” said McKenna this week ahead of Ipswich’s Super Sunday trip to Fulham, live on Sky Sports.

“I spoke to him today about taking on the challenge of leading a team because when you’re that number nine in a team that has come from where we’ve come from, it’s a lot of responsibility.

“He’s taking each day as it comes and not focusing any further than that. I think that’s exactly the right thing to do.”

There is a new meaning to the term being ‘Delaped’.

His father Rory made 358 Premier League appearances for Derby County, Southampton and Stoke City. Brought up in a football family in Winchester, this is less long throws, more long legs.

Delap was at Derby when City spotted him as a teenager and saw his huge potential with the ball at his feet. At City, he scored 24 goals in Premier League 2 – the most in one season by a player in the competition’s history.

His talent has been known among English coaches for some time. Gary O’Neil’s tenure at Wolves came to an end after his side had been on the receiving end at Molineux.

Reflecting on the player’s role in Matt Doherty’s opening own goal last month, O’Neil said: “Liam Delap did that a lot when he played Under-18s against kids that were 2ft smaller than him, when he looked like he was playing two years up, bashing people out of the way and running through.

“But that’s not acceptable to concede that goal at Premier League level. Liam Delap won’t score that goal against any other Premier League team.” Delap defied that belief by adding Chelsea to his hit list.

A throwback to an old-school centre forward

Long before slaying them last Monday, he was well-known to Blues head of recruitment Joe Shields and head coach Enzo Maresca from their time together in Manchester City’s academy.

Having cut his teeth in senior football lower down the footballing pyramid, Delap is the latest young talent to blossom at the elite level after progressing through City’s Elite Development Squad (EDS).

The EDS was established and then developed by Maresca to create a pathway from the club’s academy to the first team, with Phil Foden and Cole Palmer among those to break into Pep Guardiola’s squad.

Speaking to Sky Sports back in 2021, former Manchester City youth coach Brian Barry-Murphy – who replaced Maresca as City’s EDS manager – admitted the club now “view it as a B team”.

“Previously they had been seen it as an academy team. Enzo separated that – he put it beyond the academy and before the first team, where they were almost in transition,” Barry-Murphy said.

Selling EDS and non-first team players has generated more than £500m to the club since Guardiola’s 2016 arrival but offloading academy graduates for ‘pure profit’ looks rather foolish when the asset doubles in value within six months.

Morgan Rogers, one of the breakthrough stars of the season at Aston Villa, and Borussia Dortmund’s exciting 20-year-old Jamie Gittens, also spent time in the City system. Both will now be firmly on Thomas Tuchel’s radar.

Delap has followed Palmer in this regard having been signed for what now looks a snip at £20m. Tuchel could quite conceivably field a front four of former City youth players in his first game as England boss against Albania, and they would not be out of place.

A knack of attacking the space

When it comes to Delap, Maresca had tipped his former Man City Under-23 striker to become an “important player” for the national team days before he produced a barnstorming display to clinch an eagerly-anticipated first top-flight home win in 22 years.

Delap won and converted an early spot-kick before he teed up Omari Hutchinson for Ipswich’s second to make it nine goal involvements in 18 Premier League fixtures.

It means he has also been directly involved in 50 per cent of his club’s Premier League goals – only Mohamed Salah (67%) has a better ratio this season. If it was a Chelsea audition, then this was passed with flying colours.

A number of bigger clubs like what they have seen, but McKenna insists the warranted attention will not be on the old-school centre forward’s mind.

“There were so many outstanding individual performances in there, but Liam was fantastic. There is no doubt about that,” McKenna said.

“I’ve been saying it to people around the club that he’s improving and he’s a different beast now to what he was in July.

“We’re seeing that rate of improvement, showing the increased maturity that he is, the desire to improve and that’s a really positive sign at 21.

“I don’t think he is thinking about that (England call-up) to be honest. Liam is a funny lad. He’s good at staying in the moment.

“He is enjoying his football, he is enjoying the group of boys he is in the dressing room with. He comes to training and wants to have fun and now he wants to get better as well.”

Maturity in choosing the right option

With seven goals to his name, Delap sits between England internationals Ollie Watkins and Dominic Solanke in the current scoring charts – but he needs support around him.

Only Erling Haaland (44%) and Chris Wood (42%) have scored a higher percentage of goals for their team than Delap at 39 per cent. The victory over Chelsea was only the second time Ipswich have kept a clean sheet – only Leicester have kept fewer – so their talisman will need to keep supplying the goods.

McKenna had previously spoken about the club’s home record “being the story” until his players produced a result to savour in front of their own fans.

There had been battling home draws with Manchester United and Aston Villa, the newly-promoted outfit also shipped late goals versus Leicester and Bournemouth to let victory slip from their grasp.

Delap has shifted the narrative on himself, but the striker has a level head on his broad, burly shoulders.

“I don’t really look at things like that,” he said when asked about attracting transfer interest.

“I’m just focused on Ipswich. We are lucky to be playing in the Premier League. I think we’ve got a great opportunity here at Ipswich and we’re just trying to show our ability week in, week out, that is a big plus for me.”

Support cast needed to supplement survival bid

Delap has so often picked the right option, providing two assists alongside his seven goals from 33 attempts, a shot conversion rate that is the 12th best in the division.

His involvement has helped Ipswich take double the number of points in their last nine games as in their opening 10 fixtures, but in order for their improvement to continue into the new year, McKenna knows he must strengthen across a number of positions this month.

It will be welcome news to Delap that the club are keeping an eye on Jaden Philogene’s situation at Aston Villa. McKenna was keen on the forward last summer only for Villa to trigger a matching clause, having sold him to Hull in 2023.

But Philogene has started four games in all competitions this season, and having the 22-year-old added to Ipswich’s attacking options would ease the burden on Delap.

An over-dependence on one source for goals only becomes a problem when it is taken away. For now, McKenna can continue to wind up his human wrecking-ball and strike fear into opponents.

Watch Fulham vs Ipswich on Super Sunday, live on Sky Sports; kick-off 2pm