Chelsea are now the strong favourites to sign Blues striker Liam Delap, TWTD understands.

Delap is certain to leave the Blues during the close season with the deal he agreed last summer when joining for an initial £15 million from Manchester City featuring a £30 million relegation release clause.

As previously reported, the 22-year-old spent last week talking to interested parties, making trips to speak to Manchester United, Everton, Newcastle and Chelsea.

While Toffees boss David Moyes admitted his club was an outsider, the other three have all been in serious contention.

Some in Delap’s circle were keen on a move to United, however, the player’s mind has remained open, but we understand Chelsea are now in pole position to land the England U21 international.

The West Londoners will want the deal done prior to the FIFA Club World Cup which gets under way in the US on Friday 15th June.

This summer’s transfer window is in two parts to allow deals prior to the Club World Cup and initially opens on Sunday until Tuesday 10th June. It reopens on Monday 16th June and runs until September 1st.

Town are similarly keen to get the move completed as soon as possible as they look to add to their squad ahead of their return to the Championship.


Delap played his final game for the club against West Ham United on Sunday, coming on as a second-half sub.

In total, the one-time Derby County youngster made 32 starts and eight sub appearances for the Blues, scoring 12 times.

Photo: Matchday Images

JeremiahBrown added 15:20 - May 27 Someone suggested somewhere that Chelsea want him because he is cheap and they could then sell him on if it didn't work out. This article https://www.caughtoffside.com/2025/04/28/chelsea-plan-sign-special-player-sell-h says that they are planning on buying Sancho so that they can sell him on. Some Chelsea supporters said that Maresca makes players worse!
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BlueNomad added 16:36 - May 27 Chelsea: horrible club that chews players up and spits them out, entitled fans who forget they weren’t that great pre-Abramovic and a current team full of drama queens.
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blues1 added 17:09 - May 27 OliverR16. Absolute rubbish. How have Ashton andcthr club muffed on this? Selling a player for double the price we paid for him a year ago. Even with the money(20% of the profit) man city will get from the deal, will be getting £12,000 more than we paid. And we wouldnt have got him in the1st place had we not agreed to this clause.
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blues1 added 17:14 - May 27 Ipswich2024. Really? How is he going bcse the goings got tough? Ridiculous. He's being given the chance to go to much bigger clubs than ourselves. The chance to progress his career and maybe play for England. Something Tuchel has said he needs to be competing in the pl, for that to happen. You really expect him to stay here rather than take that chance. Can you honestly say that if u were offered a better opportunity from where u work now, with much bigger money, you'd turn it down? Has to do what's best for his career. Good luck to him, i say.

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Bluearmy_81 added 17:31 - May 27 Everyone worrying about whether Chelsea are a good fit for LD- who cares?! He’s abandoning your club, why should you care about him from that point on?
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oioihardy added 18:14 - May 27 Callum wilson just been released by Newcastle i believe... might be worth a punt if his fitness is okay , on a 1 year contract. Now we are championship I'd take him . Might be worth it
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churchmans added 19:15 - May 27 Good luck to delap will be a great move for him
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armchaircritic59 added 23:44 - May 27 The sooner it's all done the better and we and LD can move on, though I hope he never forgets the start to his PL career we gave him, and of course I wish him good luck. As to where he goes, out of the 4/5 names that seemed to be bandied about the most, I would have thought Newcastle and Everton would suit him the most, and Everton especially given their prefered playing style. Plus both cubs fans adore their successful " number nines ". The problem with Newcastle is of course Isak. I'm not at all sure that Maresca's prefered playing style would suit him, but it could be both about them adjusting to each other. If we can get a replacement for the Championship next season that has the same impact, we'll be in a great place.

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oldelsworthyfan added 09:26 - May 28 I agree with fifeblue - the midfield was our biggest weakness all season and is where we need to spend some money.
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