{"id":1023700,"date":"2026-08-25T19:19:23","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T19:19:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1023700\/"},"modified":"2026-08-25T19:19:23","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T19:19:23","slug":"nottingham-forest-agree-club-record-fee-for-chelseas-liam-delap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1023700\/","title":{"rendered":"Nottingham Forest agree club-record fee for Chelsea\u2019s Liam Delap"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nottingham Forest have agreed a club-record fee for Chelsea striker Liam Delap.<\/p>\n

The Athletic\u00a0reported<\/a> on Monday that Forest were in advanced talks over a deal to sign the former Ipswich forward, who has been on the club\u2019s list of targets for several weeks.<\/p>\n

An agreement has now been struck which, if all progresses as hoped, will see Forest pay at least \u00a345million (\u20ac52m) for the 23-year-old, who only moved to Stamford Bridge a year ago. Chelsea sources with knowledge of the deal have indicated the package rises to \u00a350m including add-ons.<\/p>\n

The England Under-21 international is expected to sign a five-year contract at the City Ground and will undergo a medical on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

If completed it would be the second time in a month that Forest have broken their transfer record, following Ousmane Diomande\u2019s move from Sporting CP.<\/p>\n

Delap had been training away from the rest of Chelsea\u2019s first-team, and he was not in the matchday squad for the 3-2 victory over Fulham on Monday.<\/p>\n

He signed a six-year contract with Chelsea upon joining the club in a \u00a330m deal from Ipswich last summer. He endured a frustrating, injury-hit debut season \u2014 scoring once in 12 starts and 16 substitute appearances in the Premier League.<\/p>\n

The Athletic\u00a0reported<\/a> on Tuesday that Chelsea are also open to selling strikers Nicolas Jackson and Marc Guiu, with Danny Welbeck having joined from Brighton & Hove Albion this summer.<\/p>\n

Delap\u2019s No 9 shirt was given to Joao Pedro this season, with the Brazilian having largely been Chelsea\u2019s first-choice striker in the 2025-26 campaign. Delap impressed for Ipswich in the previous season, scoring 12 goals in 37 league appearances and was shortlisted for the Premier League Young Player of the Season award.<\/p>\n

Delap\u2019s arrival follows the departure of striker Taiwo Awoniyi to promoted side Coventry City, ending his four-year spell at Forest.<\/p>\n

What would Delap bring to Forest?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Analysis by Nottingham Forest correspondent Paul Taylor<\/p>\n

Liam Delap is exactly the brand of striker that Oliver Glasner has wanted to see added to the Nottingham Forest ranks.<\/p>\n

Jean-Philippe Mateta was a key figure in his Crystal Palace side with his physical presence and work rate, and his ability to stretch opposition defences with his direct runs in behind.<\/p>\n

And Delap, who has been on Forest\u2019s radar for several weeks, ticks a lot of similar boxes, as well as a few more besides.<\/p>\n

Delap is also a player who is powerful when running in behind and has the energy and determination to press opposition defenders. He is a player who can create the gaps for the two creative No 10 type players that Glasner likes to utilise within his preferred 3-4-2-1 formation.<\/p>\n

The former Ipswich man is also capable of carrying the ball at pace, and he more generally has a turn of speed that Forest\u2019s head coach wants to see more of in his squad.<\/p>\n

Glasner is a big fan of Dan Ndoye for similar reasons, although the Swiss international is not a player who is comfortable operating in the same No 9 role that Delap fills.<\/p>\n

Forest still have great faith in veteran forward Chris Wood, while Igor Jesus scored five goals in pre-season to stake his own claim for an opportunity in the role.<\/p>\n

But Delap, who Forest previously had an interest in when he was still at Ipswich, would be another major addition for Forest, who have already added defender Ousmane Diomande in a \u00a335m move from Sporting CP and free agent Xaver Schlager to bolster their midfield options.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nottingham Forest have agreed a club-record fee for Chelsea striker Liam Delap. The Athletic\u00a0reported on Monday that Forest…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1023701,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[45],"tags":[461,16869,220,221,62,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-1023700","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-chelsea","tag-nottingham-forest","tag-premier-league","tag-soccer","tag-sports","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1023700","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1023700"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1023700\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1023701"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1023700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1023700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1023700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}