Everton Face £40million Dilemma for Liam Delap

Everton have been told exactly what it will cost to finally land Liam Delap – and it is a figure that would rip up their transfer history.

Chelsea, after just one season with the striker on their books, have set a £40million asking price for the 23-year-old. Any club wanting Delap on a permanent deal will have to hit that number. No negotiation, no cut‑price opportunity off the back of a modest first year at Stamford Bridge.

For Everton, that price tag is brutal and clear. Pay it, and Delap becomes the most expensive centre-forward the club has ever signed.

Record fee or walk away?

The numbers are stark. Everton’s overall transfer record still belongs to Gylfi Sigurdsson at £45million, almost nine years after his arrival. Behind him sit Richarlison and Tyler Dibling at £35million apiece in terms of initial outlay.

Drop £40million on Delap and he would leap straight into that bracket, above every striker they have ever bought. For a player with one Premier League goal in 28 games for Chelsea last season, it is a huge call.

Chelsea, though, are not budging. They paid £30million to bring him from Ipswich Town and, despite his return of just two goals in 41 games across all competitions, they want a £10million profit. The message from Stamford Bridge is blunt: Delap is not a cast-off, he is an asset with a price.

A crowded chase for a focal point

Everton are not alone at the table. Nottingham Forest and Newcastle United are also in the leading pack of Premier League clubs tracking Delap, with Leeds United watching from a step further back.

At Forest, the interest is strategic. Oliver Glasner has already shown his preference for a traditional focal point up front. He worked with Jean-Philippe Mateta at Crystal Palace and then pushed for Jorgen Strand Larsen, who arrived for a club-record £48million on February 2. Glasner wants another strong reference point in attack, and the City Ground hierarchy have been told to go after Delap, with owner Evangelos Marinakis ready to support yet another head coach in the market.

Newcastle’s situation is far less settled. Eddie Howe’s five-year reign ended on Thursday, and the club’s preferred successor, 38-year-old Matthias Jaissle of Al Ahli, has yet to be installed. Recruitment plans are on the move, but not yet aligned. Delap sits on their radar, though the lack of a permanent manager in place complicates any decisive move.

Leeds United, as reported by the i, are also monitoring the striker. They want competition for Dominic Calvert-Lewin, but their finances are stretched. Leeds are already trying to push through a record-breaking £40million deal for goalkeeper James Trafford, and matching Chelsea’s valuation for Delap on top of that would be ambitious at best.

From Ipswich breakout to relegation clause

Delap’s current market heat stems less from his Chelsea output and more from what came before. At Ipswich Town in the 2024/25 campaign, he hit a dozen Premier League goals. It was a breakout season for him personally, even as Ipswich went straight back down to the Championship.

Relegation triggered a £30million release clause, opening the door to conversations with multiple clubs. Everton were among those who moved quickly. The pitch was bold: come to Merseyside, become the leading star of a new era at Hill Dickinson Stadium, and grow as the focal point of a rebuilt side.

David Moyes, not usually one to talk publicly about transfer targets, made a rare exception. He admitted Everton had spoken to Delap and that the striker had also held talks with “three or four clubs.” Moyes accepted they were “probably a little bit behind the black ball” but hoped the project might still tempt him.

It did not.

Champions League lure and Chelsea upheaval

When the decision came, Delap chose Chelsea. The pull of Champions League football and the chance to work again under Enzo Maresca, his former coach at Manchester City, proved decisive.

For a player trying to climb into the elite bracket, it made sense on paper: a big club, European nights, a familiar manager who trusted him. Everton’s promise of being the main man at Hill Dickinson Stadium could not compete with the glamour of west London and continental football.

Then the ground shifted.

Maresca left on New Year’s Day. Chelsea lurched again, hiring Liam Rosenior on a six-and-a-half-year contract and then sacking him in under four months. Now Xabi Alonso has taken charge, the latest figure tasked with imposing order on a club that has burned through ideas and managers at an astonishing rate.

In that chaos, Delap’s future has swung back open. He is no longer the forward handpicked by the current coach. He is a valuable chip in a squad that needs reshaping, and Chelsea know the market will pay for potential.

Everton’s dilemma

So Everton stand where they so often have in recent years: staring at a talent they admire, calculating the risk, feeling the weight of their own past deals.

Do they break their striker record for a 23-year-old whose best work came at Ipswich and whose Chelsea numbers do not scream inevitability? Or do they step back and watch another club gamble on the idea that Delap’s next move will be the one where everything clicks?

Chelsea have set the price. Forest have made their intentions clear. Newcastle hover, Leeds lurk, and Delap waits.

If Everton want him to lead the line at Hill Dickinson Stadium, they know exactly what it will cost. The question now is whether they dare to pay it.