Nottingham Forest have agreed a club-record deal worth about £50m to sign Chelsea striker Liam Delap, with the 23-year-old expected to complete a medical and sign a long-term contract at the City Ground this week.
Delap joined Chelsea from Ipswich Town for £30m last summer, after attracting interest from Manchester United and Everton. However, Chelsea made the England forward available for transfer this summer after he scored only one Premier League goal in a campaign affected by shoulder and hamstring injuries.
His proposed move to Forest would give manager Nuno Espirito Santo another option in attack and increase competition for places alongside Chris Wood and Igor Jesus. Neither striker scored in Forest’s 1-0 home defeat by Leeds in their opening Premier League match on Saturday.
Forest have already spent £34m on defender Ousmane Diomande, who joined from Sporting, while Austrian midfielder Xaver Schlager and goalkeeper Steve Benda have arrived as free agents.
The club have also been active in the transfer market by selling England midfielder Elliot Anderson to Manchester City for a club-record £116m. Striker Taiwo Awoniyi has moved to Coventry City for £9m.
Chelsea, meanwhile, have added two strikers during the summer, signing Emmanuel Emegha from Strasbourg and Danny Welbeck from Brighton. Delap’s expected departure would therefore follow significant changes to the club’s forward line.
Delap began his youth career at Derby County before moving to Manchester City in 2019. He helped City win the FA Youth Cup during the 2019-20 season and then scored 24 goals in 20 Premier League 2 appearances in 2020-21 as City won the title.
He made his senior City debut in September 2020, scoring in a 2-1 League Cup victory over Bournemouth. Three days later, he made his Premier League debut in a 5-2 defeat by Leicester.
Injuries restricted his opportunities with City, and he spent periods on loan in the Championship between 2022 and 2024. His temporary spells were with Stoke, Preston North End and Hull City.
City sold Delap to Ipswich for £20m in the summer of 2024. He scored 12 goals in 37 Premier League appearances for Ipswich during their first season back in the top flight.
A move to Forest would come a year after Delap’s transfer to Chelsea and would represent another significant change in his career as he looks to establish himself at Premier League level.
