Season › 2024-25 › News Liam Delap could be the face of the Everton project says Fabrizio Romano Anjishnu Roy 27/05/2025 37comments | Jump to last Everton are ready to send a big financial proposal to sign Liam Delap from Ipswich Town, reports transfer journalist Fabrizio Romano. Speaking on his YouTube channel, Romano added that Delap could be the face of the whole project under David Moyes. The 22-year-old has a £30m release clause and with Ipswich Town already relegated, he’s set to leave the club this summer. While the Toffees have made him a priority this signing with manager David Moyes even acknowledging holding talks with his camp, they will face stiff competition from a host of interested parties, including Chelsea and Manchester United. “Also, because his future is basically in his hands, it’s not in Ipswich’s hands. Ipswich have this release clause, £30m for Liam Delap, available this summer, the player will go and so the player is now assessing all these options. Everton are prepared to make a big financial proposal to the player, then giving him maybe the possibility to leave the club in two or three years, something like that. For Everton, it would be a sensational signing, so he could be the face of the whole project,” said Fabrizio Romano on his YouTube channel. Delap had a breakthrough season in England, scoring 12 goals in 37 matches for the relegated side. Everton are likely to offer him a starting role and the opportunity to be the face of the project at their new stadium. Signing a striker is a priority for Moyes as Dominic Calvert-Lewin is out of contract and Armando Broja is returning to Chelsea following his loan spell. Beto has blown hot and cold while Youssef Chermiti is not quite ready for this level. Reader Comments (37) Note: the following content is not moderated or vetted by the site owners at the time of submission. Comments are the responsibility of the poster. Disclaimer () Scott Hamilton 1 Posted 27/05/2025 at 15:14:59 If he comes to us and we win something, he can do Delap of honour.I’ll get me coat… Derek Knox 2 Posted 27/05/2025 at 15:42:09 Allegedly too, he wants to have guaranteed minutes, also keen to return to the North West. I think he would be a good addition, and just hope there are no snags. Robert Tressell 3 Posted 27/05/2025 at 15:42:16 Scott you have just won today’s ToffeeWeb. Congratulations! Alan J Thompson 4 Posted 27/05/2025 at 15:48:29 The release clause may say 30M but other clubs might be prepared to part with a little more if they consider he's worth the punt. Mike Gaynes 5 Posted 27/05/2025 at 16:06:35 Scott, if we sign him would we be in Delap of luxury? Andy Crooks 6 Posted 27/05/2025 at 16:13:00 Mike, has Derek hijacked your account?? Brendan McLaughlin 7 Posted 27/05/2025 at 16:13:37 When asked about the prospect of signing a new centre forward Moyes answered "It's in de lap of de Gods" Andy Crooks 8 Posted 27/05/2025 at 16:15:43 He's got yours too, Brendan! Barry McNally 9 Posted 27/05/2025 at 16:16:58 Sign him now, not in 15 years when he'll be dilapidated. Scott Hamilton 10 Posted 27/05/2025 at 16:19:08 As long as he doesn’t do a Van der Meyde and spend most of his time pissed and down Delap-dancing bar. Jonathan Oppenheimer 11 Posted 27/05/2025 at 16:21:11 I’m all for it, assuming it’s not more than £35-40 million and/or it prevents us from strengthening in other positions of need. But I’m curious what that means for Beto and DCL, assuming DCL has a contract offer. Chermiti would certainly go out on loan, unless DCL goes elsewhere and Beto is sold. And that’s all fine, assuming Beto doesn’t sulk too much. But if DCL signs on reduced wages, and we sign Delap, that’s a lot of someone sitting on the bench making decent money. I guess that’s what happens with squads with good depth.More than anything, it would be a real coup, a real sign of strength and probably a smart move for Delap if he came our way, assuming we sign a winger or two and a right back who can get him the ball. Andy Crooks 12 Posted 27/05/2025 at 16:21:50 Scott,I thought the worst was over! Mike Allison 13 Posted 27/05/2025 at 16:28:30 A couple of posters don’t seem to quite get the release clause thing.All clubs will have a £30M bid accepted, no-one needs to offer more and offering more won’t get you anything.Delap can then choose which club to join, based on the financial package, the status and opportunities of the club and the role he believes he’ll be given.Our only advantage is in the last of those three. Jon Atkinson 14 Posted 27/05/2025 at 16:32:23 Surely you choose Champs League all be it in arse end of nowhere anyone know where he’s actually from ? Steve Byles 15 Posted 27/05/2025 at 16:46:12 At £30m, he may be good value and has potential for the future, but I don’t see him leading the line for us. 12 in 37 and 8 in 31 the previous season with Hull, isn’t really the level we need. I’d prefer a proven striker if we’re aiming for top 6, ideally Richarlison if he can stay fit. I don’t see Delap as an upgrade on Beto either. Jamie Lenard 16 Posted 27/05/2025 at 16:52:49 Another positive for him signing for us would be that it might get him on the plane to the World Cup Finals, if he gets game time and has a stand out season. Riding the bench for United or Chelsea won't help him. Kevin Molloy 17 Posted 27/05/2025 at 16:52:57 We may or may not get this chap, but I think we've sent a signal loud and clear to Beto that he won't be our first choice striker next season, so I think he'll go. At his age, he will want to be playing, and we should get our money back thanks to his good form.The Alcaraz one is odd, it should have been straightforward if we wanted him. I can only think that Moyes may have someone else in mind for what is admittedly an absolutely crucial position on the field, and Charly may not be happy to be a squad player after the amount of time he's spent on the bench with us. Joe McMahon 18 Posted 27/05/2025 at 16:54:01 Oh no. Gana going back to France? Ian Bennett 19 Posted 27/05/2025 at 16:56:15 I do think Beto is improving, and I think you can see the coaches working on him.I'll put my hand up: I said he was a duffer. I'd keep him, he's scoring and he's getting into goal scoring opportunities.Need Derek Mountfield to teach him to header it down, and he'd get a shit load. Martin Farrington 20 Posted 27/05/2025 at 16:57:27 He is an antagonistic thug on the pitch. Should he wear our colours his yellow and red card numbers will go stratospheric, we all know why.I was surprised by his stats. I think Moyes could tame the rage he has akin to Beto.He may be a great number 10 (?) to our own whirling dervish.Too many ifs buts and maybes about signings and we don't have any record other than Debacle in the transfer market. Ed Prytherch 21 Posted 27/05/2025 at 17:19:43 Martin, our last 3 transfers in were Tim Iroegbunam (£11m), Iliman Ndiaye (£15m), Jake O’Brien (£17m). I would not call that a debacle. Mark Murphy 22 Posted 27/05/2025 at 17:35:41 Totally agree EdJoe @ 18 - what makes you say that? What have you heard?? Alan McGuffog 23 Posted 27/05/2025 at 17:38:32 Imagine having an antagonistic thug leading the line, picking up red cards. Blinking flip ! Joe McMahon 24 Posted 27/05/2025 at 17:40:48 Mark@22, nothing concrete but seen it twice on Twitter, that he wants longer than 1 year.Martin, personally I wish we still had Kevin Thelwell, I thought he did brilliant in very difficult circumstances. Craig Walker 25 Posted 27/05/2025 at 17:41:35 I loved Richarlison when he was with us but I don't think we should be looking at him. He seems a shadow of his former self and never seems fit, to me. Delap is younger and less of a risk, in my opinion. There would be a big expectation on his shoulders though with Everton being a significant step up from Ipswich. He'd get guaranteed minutes on the pitch though which isn't something some of the other clubs can offer him and he'd get to play at our new stadium. Martin Mason 26 Posted 27/05/2025 at 17:56:44 Please don't let Gana go. Jonathan Oppenheimer 27 Posted 27/05/2025 at 18:28:50 Regarding Gana, this is always the problem with letting contracts run out. You risk someone else being willing to pay a few million more or a year or two more, and not much you can do at that point. But we took a stance that we weren’t negotiating new contracts until safety was secured, and now here we are.I’d give Gana two years, but at what price? Richarlison is also a no for me, unless it’s a reasonable loan deal. Love him, but he has not shown enough with Spurs to justify a big price tag. Ed Prytherch 28 Posted 27/05/2025 at 18:31:10 Richarlison's loss of form at Spurs maybe due to the environment at the club. He was bought by Daniel Levy and it could be that the managers have not fancied him so much. They had Son, Kane and Kulusevski when he arrived and they have signed Werner, Madison, Johnson and Solanke since then. Although Kane has gone, that is too many attacking players fighting for playing time. I think that Moyes could bring the best out of him if he stayed fit. Mike Allison 29 Posted 27/05/2025 at 18:53:13 Steve (15), you write that post as if those numbers guarantee that that’s what he’ll produce forever.Surely I don’t need to explain that a 20-21 year old playing in a better team might improve?!I wonder what Harry Kane and Alan Shearer produced at 20-21? Ed Prytherch 30 Posted 27/05/2025 at 19:09:56 Richarlison had just turned 21 when he joined Everton and he scored 53 goals in 4 seasons despite being played mainly as a winger. Spurs might want to off load him. In terms of playing ability he is in a different league to Delap.Even Calvert Lewin was able to score when Richarlison was his winger. Mark Rankin 31 Posted 27/05/2025 at 19:17:23 Biased but so think were his best bet. We’re crying out for a striker, he’d be central to our plans and he’ll be given every chance even if there are a few rough patches. Every chance at Man Utd/Chelsea he’d be another squad player and stall. Rob Halligan 32 Posted 27/05/2025 at 19:26:13 Rasmus Hojlund cost Man Utd a whopping £72M and he’s barely set the world alight in the time he’s been there. Maybe the pressure of leading the line at the so called biggest club in the world has affected him, so why should Delap be any different? Not saying he would hit the ground running should he join us, but there wouldn’t be anywhere near the pressure on him playing for us compared to Man Utd. Christy Ring 33 Posted 27/05/2025 at 19:41:25 Christy Ring 34 Posted 27/05/2025 at 19:46:50 I'm still in two minds over Delap, he's had one season in the Premiership and stood out in a poor side, but on the plus side £30m is not a gamble on today's prices, and he's only 23. Ryan Holroyd 35 Posted 27/05/2025 at 19:50:31 Delap is 22 Steve Shave 36 Posted 27/05/2025 at 19:58:15 Joe I was also firmly in the keep Thelwell camp, I feel we threw the baby out with the bathwater there. He did a good job with nothing to play with, played a good hand in his time here. To those speculating about where Delap is from, if he came to us he'd hardly be coming home, he was born in Winchester. That said he's probably been in Manchester for many of his teen years. Let's hope his family are settled there. We absolutely need to all in on this, big contract offer and the no9 shirt. A certain starter, that said I like Beto and think he can do a job next season, he is improving. Christy Ring 37 Posted 27/05/2025 at 19:58:46 Ryan #35 My apologies 23 next February, WOW! Add Your Comments In order to post a comment, you need to be logged in as a registered user of the site. » Log in now Or Sign up as a ToffeeWeb Member — it's free, takes just a few minutes and will allow you to post your comments on articles and Talking Points submissions across the site. How to get rid of these ads and support TW © ToffeeWeb