{"id":95750,"date":"2025-05-12T16:18:08","date_gmt":"2025-05-12T16:18:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/95750\/"},"modified":"2025-05-12T16:18:08","modified_gmt":"2025-05-12T16:18:08","slug":"key-advantage-for-no-1-target-surfaces-in-chelsea-blow-with-second-vital-factor-revealed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/95750\/","title":{"rendered":"Key advantage for &#8216;No.1&#8217; target surfaces in Chelsea blow with second vital factor revealed"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>According to reports, Manchester United hold a key advantage over Chelsea in the race to sign Ipswich Town star Liam Delap.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.football365.com\/manchester-united\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>The Red Devils<\/strong> <\/a>are crying out for at least one new striker as Rasmus Hojlund and Joshua Zirkzee have been criticised for their performances this season.<\/p>\n<p>Man Utd have been woeful this season as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.football365.com\/premier-league\/table\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>they sit 16th in the Premier League table with two games of the 2024\/25 campaign remaining.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.football365.com\/tag\/ruben-amorim\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Ruben Amorim<\/strong> <\/a>has struggled since replacing Erik ten Hag as United\u2019s squad is not suited to his 3-4-3 formation and his attacking department seriously needs reinforcements.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.football365.com\/premier-league\/table\/open-play-goals\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>United have only scored 27 open play goals in 36 Premier League matches<\/strong><\/a> and they are linked with several potential signings ahead of the summer.<\/p>\n<p><strong>READ:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.football365.com\/news\/opinion-premier-league-winners-losers-amorim-postecoglou-manchester-united-spurs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Premier League winners and losers: Amorim and Ange, Newcastle, Dias, Rusk, Beto, Jackson<\/a><br \/><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Delap is being heavily linked with Man Utd as he\u2019s enjoyed a breakout season following his move to Ipswich Town from Man City for around \u00a320m last summer.<\/p>\n<p>The England U21 international has shone in a struggling side and has scored 12 goals in the Premier League this season.<\/p>\n<p>Delap has a relegation release clause worth \u00a330m in his Ipswich contract that Premier League rivals are keen to take advantage of.<\/p>\n<p><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/talksport.com\/football\/3197666\/man-united-chelsea-liam-delap-transfer-ipswich\/\" target=\"_blank\">A report from talkSPORT claims<\/a> Delap is \u2018close to a decision\u2019 and he is \u2018leaning towards\u2019 a move to Man Utd.<\/p>\n<p><strong>MORE MAN UTD COVERAGE ON F365\u2026<\/strong><br \/>\ud83d\udc49\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.football365.com\/news\/man-utd-ruben-amorim-sack-update-revealed-as-importance-of-europa-league-final-surfaces\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Man Utd: Ruben Amorim \u2018sack update\u2019 revealed as importance of Europa League final surfaces<\/strong><\/a><br \/>\ud83d\udc49\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.football365.com\/news\/man-utd-transfer-chelsea-pay-sancho-penalty-euro-club-offer-lifeline-ineos-slash-price\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Chelsea \u2018to pay penalty\u2019 to send Sancho back to Man Utd with European club to \u2018offer lifeline\u2019<\/strong><\/a><br \/>\ud83d\udc49\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.football365.com\/news\/enticing-fernandes-price-tag-star-ripped-away-prem-duo-eyed-replacements\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Enticing Bruno Fernandes price can see star ripped from Man Utd as Prem duo in sights<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Delap\u2019s stance is reportedly based on him being \u2018keen on a return to the North East\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>Journalist Ben Jacobs has provided more details on X, claiming a win against Spurs in the Europa League would given them another advantage.<\/p>\n<p>Jacobs said: \u201cManchester United are optimistic of signing Liam Delap if they win the #UEL.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUnited and Chelsea are currently the two leading Premier League clubs considering triggering Liam Delap\u2019s \u00a330m clause, which is active now Ipswich are relegated.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDelap is waiting to see who gets what at the end of the season, but #MUFC have made a strong pitch already. He is the number one striker target, and United have the financial means to sign both Delap and Matheus Cunha early in the window if they can reach an agreement with both players.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cChelsea have a number of striker options with Delap well-known to Enzo Maresca and #CFC\u2019s recruitment team.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDelap wants to make a decision before he leaves for the Under-21 European Championship.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"According to reports, Manchester United hold a key advantage over Chelsea in the race to sign Ipswich Town&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":95751,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8813],"tags":[748,885,393,4884,225,1926,2969,2465,98,12,101,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-95750","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manchester","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-chelsea","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-home-page","13":"tag-ipswich-town","14":"tag-liam-delap","15":"tag-manchester","16":"tag-manchester-united","17":"tag-news","18":"tag-premier-league","19":"tag-uk","20":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114495770091579981","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95750","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95750"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95750\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/95751"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}