Everton backed for new Liam Delap transfer raid after Chelsea ‘problem’
Everton have been backed to make a new transfer raid for Liam Delap this summer after missing out to Chelsea last year
David Moyes should go back in for Liam Delap this summer because he could get his career back on track at Everton.
That’s the verdict of Andy Townsend, Chelsea’s first captain of the Premier League era, on the striker who completed a £30million transfer to Stamford Bridge in June 2025.
Delap netted a dozen Premier League goals for Ipswich Town last season but after they went straight back down to the Championship, his relegation release clause enabled him to talk to interested parties.
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Everton were one of those chasing his signature at the time, hoping the prospect of being the leading star going into a new era at Hill Dickinson Stadium could add weight to their bid.
Blues boss Moyes took what was an unusual step for him of publicly declaring his interest and following their talks he said: “We’ve had a chance to speak to him, yes.
“He spoke to three or four clubs. 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.”
Ultimately, Delap chose to go to Chelsea who could offer Champions League football while also providing him with the chance to play under Enzo Maresca, who had previously been his coach at Manchester City.
However, the Italian having departed on New Year’s Day, the west London club – who have subsequently hired and fired Liam Rosenior, dispensing of his services less than four months into a six-and-a-half-year contract – can no longer finish in the top five, having lost their last six Premier League matches, leaving them currently level on 48 points with Everton.
Despite being part of the Chelsea squad that lifted the FIFA Club World Cup in the USA last July – alongside Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall who moved to the Blues for £25million the following month – Delap has netted just once in 26 Premier League matches this term and has struck twice in 38 games in all competitions.
Townsend told football betting site BetVictor: “With Thierno Barry and Beto at Everton, there’s an opportunity for somebody if you want to go in there and grab a shirt. Those boys are no doubt giving it their very best, but you’d like to think that there’s an opportunity there for somebody if they can convince David Moyes that they can go in there and do it.
“With Liam, he’s a big, bustling, hard-running, aggressive centre forward. It’s difficult for a centre-forward to be overly aggressive nowadays because you just can’t get away with that.
“But I do think that there’s another dimension to his game that he’s got to find. The problem is you go to a club like Chelsea and you’re not playing a lot of football if you’re not playing in the team.
“There isn’t reserve football or anything like that. You don’t get the minutes that perhaps you used to get in generations gone by to keep yourself ticking over.
“I’m sure he’s very frustrated, but he’s got to get razor sharp this summer and at the start of next season. He’s got to look like he wants to really get in there and make the difference.”
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Maidstone-born Townsend, who was a former Republic of Ireland captain, winning 70 caps and scoring seven goals for the Boys in Green having qualified to represent them through his paternal grandmother who hailed from Castleisland in County Kerry, reckons that Everton are the perfect club for Jake O’Brien to continue his development.
The defender netted his first goal of the season in the 3-3 draw at home to Manchester City on Monday and Townsend said: “I think Jake O’Brien is at the perfect club for him at this stage of his career, I like Jake.
“Whether or not he’s a right-back, it’s difficult for him sometimes as such a big man playing in those sorts of positions when he’s got Jeremy Doku running at him like he did this week. It isn’t easy, but I like him because he’s a competitor.
“Physically, he’s a proper unit in both boxes and I think Everton is absolutely the right size club for someone like Jake at this stage of his career. Why leave a club where you’re playing more often than not and go somewhere to sit and watch just because it’s potentially a so-called better or bigger club? I think Everton is perfect for him.
“The fact that he played for Sean Dyche (he was signed under his watch from Olympique Lyonnais for £16.43million but was never picked for a Premier League start in half a season) is good for Ireland, too. In the last decade, we’ve not always had enough players playing top-flight Premier League football in the Irish team.
“Seamus Coleman is at the back end of it now, and not having enough boys playing at that level has had an effect on our standing and the results that we’ve got. Jake is playing consistently for Everton, and they are a consistent team.
“They were terrific on Monday night when they had a go at City in the last half-hour. I think Everton is absolutely the perfect club for him right now.”
