Liam Delap has hit the ground running for Ipswich Town, scoring six goals in 11 Premier League games. Stuart Watson looks at his season so far.
THE BACK STORY
The son of Republic of Ireland and Stoke City icon Rory Delap, Liam started out at Derby before getting snapped up by Manchester City age 16 for a £1m compensation fee.
After getting a very small taste of senior football under Pep Guardiola he went out on a series of Championship loans. He scored a slightly underwhelming total of 12 goals across two seasons at Stoke, Preston and Hull, suffering a knee injury at the latter, but Ipswich boss Kieran McKenna had seen plenty.
Town paid a fee of £15m, with the potential to rise to £20m, when signing the 21-year-old in July.
“He is a player with outstanding physical and technical attributes who has a hunger to come here and continue to learn and improve,” said McKenna.
“He has gained good first-team experience from a young age and we feel he has the potential for development here.”
FLYING START
Town failed in an attempt to sign another striker late in the transfer window. The plug was pulled on a loan deal for Chelsea’s Armando Broja at the medical stage, while Middlesbrough rejected a bid for Emmanuel Latte Lath. With George Hirst injured and Ali Al-Hamadi semi-fit, that left Delap shouldering the burden of leading the line going into Ipswich’s first Premier League season in 22 years.
Straight away you could see the England U21 international wasn’t going to be overawed on the big stage. On the opening day against Liverpool at Portman Road, one immense touch and driving run left Jarell Quansah in his wake. Arne Slot hooked the latter at the break, explaining: “I think we needed Ibou Konate to win these long balls in the air from their No.9.”
After a strong centre-forward display in difficult circumstances at Man City, Delap fully announced himself in the Premier League with an outstanding goal against Fulham. Receiving the ball just inside the visitors’ half, he charged forwards, shrugged off Andreas Pereira before hammering an angled shot past the despairing dive of Bernd Leno from the edge of the box. Portman Road erupted.
Two weeks later, at Brighton, he almost repeated the feat. This time he picked the ball up midway in the Town half before eating up the ground, entering the opposition box and firing against the far upright.
Southampton doubled up on Delap at St Mary’s. Delap responded with a home double against Aston Villa. The opener was a sweetly struck, left-footed, first time strike inside the near post from a Jack Clarke cut-back. His second, which levelled the game up at 2-2, came courtesy of a burst inside from the left, smart stepover and swerve that completely bamboozled Diego Carlos and composed finish.
His equaliser in the subsequent 4-1 defeat at West Ham was, again, about strength and power. This time, after a corner delivery flicked up off a head in the box, he held off Lucas Paqueta as the ball dropped out the sky, spun and hammered a low shot that Alphonse Areola could only push high into his own net.
Hirst’s last shoulder running was preferred from the start at Brentford. Delap came on in the second half though and scored the goal that got the 10-man Blues back to 3-3. This one was all about clever movement and a deft finish, a stretched foot guiding Leif Davis’ expert deep cross past the keeper on the run. Brentford scored again and, in a remarkable finish, Delap almost rescued a point when smashing a shot against the upright from the angle of the box.
Delap’s last two performances have been about fighting centre-backs. Leicester’s Wout Faes and Tottenham’s Cristian Romero were both bullied. At Spurs, Delap threw himself at a cross in the build-up to the opener and showed great desire to help the ball over the line for 2-0.
ACROSS EUROPE
Here’s a list of the most goals scored by players aged 21 or younger across Europe’s top five leagues (Premier League, La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga and Ligue 1) so far this season. You might recognise a few names...
6: LIAM DELAP (Ipswich)
5: Jamal Musiala (Bayern Munich), Lamine Yamal (Barcelona), Andrey Santos (Strasbourg)
4: Florian Wirtz (Bayer Leverkusen), Ange-Yoan Bonny (Parma), Santiago Castro (Bologna), Alberto Moleoro (Las Palmas), Eliesse Ben Seghir (Monaco)
PREMIER LEAGUE GREATS
One stat that has been doing the rounds online outlines how several modern English striker legends didn’t manage to score this many goals inside their first 10 Premier League starts. Harry Kane and Wayne Rooney both managed five, with Alan Shearer and Michael Owen getting to three.
I had a look at a few other notable names. Robbie Fowler and Jermain Defoe both got six goals inside 10 Premier League starts as young men when England U21 internationals.
RECENT TOWN HISTORY
There’s only been a handful of players to have notched this many goals so quickly at Ipswich Town since the turn of the century.
Kieffer Moore scored six goals in his first nine games when arriving on loan from Bournemouth last season.
Boyhood Blues fan Macauley Bonne bagged nine in his first 11 in 2021 and went on to hit 11 in 16 before the goals dried up.
Martyn Waghorn scored six in 10 in 17/18. He ended that campaign with 16 in total.
DJ Campbell’s early flurry (6 in 11) helped Mick McCarthy’s men move away from the Championship drop zone in 12/13. He ultimately got 10 in 17 during a loan spell from QPR.
The last striker to hit the ground running in the Premier League for Ipswich is Marcus Bent. Following a mid-season switch from Blackburn, he scored seven goals inside his first 10 league starts either side of Christmas 2001. Town went on to get relegated that season. Let’s not finish on that note though...
WHAT’S BEEN SAID
After Delap impressed for England U21s in a 2-1 win against Ukraine last month, Young Lions boss Ben Futcher enthused: “He’s given their centre-halves a real rough night. If you want to go and fight him, he'll match you. If you want to race him, he’ll win the race. Liam’s a top number nine and he’s going to keep developing.”
After his brace against Aston Villa, Town boss McKenna said: “His body has developed a lot over the last 12 months, which I think is important for a forward player playing in the physicality of the Premier League and even in the Championship.
“He hadn’t had a completely clear off-season as he had a (knee) injury in the second half of last season with Hull, so it took him a bit of time over pre-season.
“I think the demands we place on players here are higher than they usually experience at other clubs, so it took him a little while to adapt to the intensity of training and intensity of our playing style.
“But he has really committed himself well to that process and he is working very well with the staff. He’s a popular member of the group.
“For 21 years of age, the start he has had in the Premier League is really promising. But it is a handful of games and he knows there is still a long road ahead of him and lots of things to still improve on. He has made some really good first strides though.”
Town defender Luke Woolfenden said: “He’s been unbelievable since he’s come in. He’s shown real quality on the ball, as well as his pace and power up there leading the line. When he hits it, it stays hit! I’ve never seen a kid hit a ball that hard!”
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