Everton's Challenge to Sign Liam Delap for £40million

Everton have been told in blunt terms what it will take to land Liam Delap: break their transfer record for a centre-forward and come close to smashing their all-time fee.

Chelsea have set the bar at around £40million for the 23-year-old, a figure that would make Delap the most expensive striker in Everton’s history and only just shy of the club’s overall record. For a player with three goals in 41 games for the London club, it is a bold valuation. Chelsea, though, are not blinking.

A bidding war in the making

Delap is not short of admirers. Everton are one of a cluster of Premier League clubs circling, but they are hardly alone.

Nottingham Forest, now under Oliver Glasner, have pushed themselves towards the front of the queue. Glasner has always liked a clear focal point to his attack. At Crystal Palace he leaned on Jean-Philippe Mateta; at Forest he has already sanctioned a club-record £48million move for Jorgen Strand Larsen. He wants another powerful option to build around, and Delap fits the profile.

Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis is prepared to bankroll his fifth permanent head coach in less than a year. The instruction from the touchline to the boardroom is simple: go and get a striker who can lead the line. Delap is firmly on that list.

Newcastle United are also in the frame, but their pursuit is complicated by their own upheaval. Eddie Howe’s five-year tenure ended on Thursday and the club’s preferred successor, 38-year-old Matthias Jaissle of Al Ahli, has yet to be installed. Until the new man is in the dugout, Newcastle’s push for Delap remains more interest than intent.

Leeds United are watching too. They want serious competition for Dominic Calvert-Lewin and see Delap as an ambitious option. Their problem is money. With funds tight at Elland Road and a record £40million move for goalkeeper James Trafford already on the table, matching Chelsea’s asking price for another major deal would stretch them to the limit.

Chelsea dig in

Chelsea’s stance is clear. After just one season at Stamford Bridge, they are not prepared to cut their losses or let Delap leave cheaply.

The club want around £40million – a £10million profit on what they paid – from any side hoping to take him on a permanent basis. That price comes despite a modest return last season: one goal in 28 Premier League appearances, two in 41 games in all competitions.

The context matters. Delap had shown his scoring touch before. He hit 12 Premier League goals for Ipswich Town in 2024/25, a bright spark in a side that still went straight back down to the Championship. Relegation triggered a £30million release clause, opening the door to top-flight suitors and giving him the chance to choose his next step.

Everton were there then as well, pushing hard. They sold him the idea of being the central figure in a new era at Hill Dickinson Stadium, the leading man as the club moved into its future. It was a pitch with both football and symbolism attached.

David Moyes, back in charge at Goodison and not usually one for public transfer courting, broke character to admit his admiration. “We’ve had a chance to speak to him, yes. He spoke to three or four clubs,” he said at the time. “He’s given us our opportunity to pitch our case. We’re probably a little bit behind the black ball but hopefully, you never know what happens.”

What happened was Chelsea.

Champions League football and the chance to work again under Enzo Maresca, his former coach at Manchester City, pulled Delap towards west London. For a young striker with ambition, it was an understandable decision.

A different Chelsea, a familiar dilemma

The landscape has shifted since. Maresca left on New Year’s Day. Chelsea then lurched through another misstep, hiring Liam Rosenior on a six-and-a-half-year contract and dismissing him in under four months. Now Xabi Alonso is the man tasked with bringing order to the chaos.

Alonso must decide where Delap fits. Chelsea, for now, are acting as if he does. Their price says they are not desperate sellers. Their recent history suggests nobody at Stamford Bridge gets out on the cheap.

For Everton, the equation is stark. Almost nine years after his arrival, Gylfi Sigurdsson still stands as the club’s record signing at £45million. Behind him sit the £35million moves for Richarlison and Tyler Dibling. Matching Chelsea’s £40million demand would not only make Delap the costliest centre-forward in the club’s history, it would place him in the bracket reserved for their most scrutinised signings.

The question is whether they dare. Or whether someone else will blink first.