They have to hit the pin at Stamford Bridge and wonder how it is possible to have such great luck after they sold Liam Delap for almost double what they bought for themselves a year ago.
Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis must have taken a shot or two too many with Ouzo before they snatched Chelsea’s £50m offer for Liam Delap.
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Nottingham Forest have agreed to pay around £50m for Chelsea striker Liam Delap – the club’s most expensive signing ever.
The 23-year-old striker is expected to undergo a medical test and sign a long-term contract at the City Ground within the week.
The move comes a year after Delap moved from Ipswich Town to Chelsea for £30 million – then in competition with Manchester United and Everton. However, Chelsea opted to make him available for sale this summer, after he scored just one Premier League goal in a season marked by shoulder and hamstring injuries.
Forest have already spent large sums of money
Forest have already signed defender Ousmane Diomande from Sporting for £34m, as well as free agents Xaver Schlager (midfield) and Steve Benda (goalkeeper).
The club has also sold big – midfielder Elliot Anderson went to Manchester City for a whopping £116 million, a new club record, while striker Taiwo Awoniyi went to Coventry for £9 million.
Delaps’ arrival will bring stiff competition to strikers Chris Wood and Igor Jesus, who both failed to score in Forest’s 1-0 loss to Leeds in their home opener on Saturday.
From Derby via City to Chelsea – and now Nottingham
Delap came up through Derby County’s youth academy before joining Manchester City in 2019. There, he helped City win the FA Youth Cup in 2019/20, before scoring 24 goals in 20 Premier League 2 games in 2020/21 – and securing the league title.
In September 2020, he scored on his senior debut for City in the League Cup against Bournemouth – a 2–1 victory. Three days later, he made his Premier League debut, in a 5–2 defeat to Leicester.
However, injuries put an end to several chances in the first team, and between 2022 and 2024, Delap spent loan spells in the Championship at Stoke, Preston North End and Hull City.
In the summer of 2024, he was sold from City to Ipswich for £20 million – and scored 12 goals in 37 Premier League games for the newly promoted side.
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Chelsea sign two strikers at the same time
While Delap is leaving Stamford Bridge, Chelsea have brought in two new strikers this summer: Emmanuel Emegha from Strasbourg and Danny Welbeck from Brighton.
Now Delap is ready for a new start – this time in Nottingham…. Good luck.
