Manchester United reportedly want to sign Ipswich Town’s Liam Delap in the summer and he has a £40 million release clause in the event the Tractor Boys get relegated at the end of the season.
The Red Devils have struggled to find the back of the net all season and this has been demonstrated in the fact they have only scored 37 goals in 30 matches in the Premier League.
Their squandering of chances on a regular basis was on full show in the 0-1 defeat to Nottingham Forest earlier this week, where they failed to score despite taking 23 shots on goal.
Consequently, United have been linked with big name strikers such as Victor Osimhen and Viktor Gyokeres to help add some much needed ruthlessness to their game in front of goal.
The Red Devils may not be able to afford such players this summer though, especially if they fail to win the Europa League, which would secure qualification to the Champions League.
United are therefore drawing up contingency plans and one attractive option according to certain sources is Ipswich’s Liam Delap.
The Daily Mail report that “Manchester United have held more discussions internally over a potential summer move for Ipswich striker Liam Delap.”
“The England Under 21 international has a release clause in the region of £40million if Ipswich are relegated from the Premier League, which makes him more affordable than the likes of Hugo Ekitike, who is valued at closer to £70m by Eintracht Frankfurt.”
United are not only attracted to Delap’s potential price but also the fact that he has scored goals in the Premier League this season.
His 11th Premier League strike of the season last night proved to be vital as Kieran McKenna’s side impressively beat AFC Bournemouth 2-1 at the Vitality Stadium.
It won’t be a simple deal for United though as they “will face competition from a number of rivals including Chelsea, Liverpool, Newcastle and his old club Manchester City who have a buyback option on the 22-year-old.”
Ruben Amorim’s side hope that one factor in their favour is that the player knows United’s technical director Jason Wilcox from their time together with the Man City academy.
United hope to fund a deal by selling Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho in the summer.
Featured image Stephen Pond via Getty Images
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Alex Browne
Alex is a huge Manchester United fan, inspired by greats of his homeland such as George Best, Harry Gregg and Norman Whiteside. Proud owner of such niche shirts such as Kleberson, Eric Djemba-Djemba and Gary Neville. Grew up pretending to be Ruud van Nistelrooy and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in the back garden, with little success.
