Nottingham Forest last week broke their club transfer record to sign Liam Delap (£5.5m) from Chelsea for £50m.

With the 23-year-old joining Oliver Glasner’s Tricky Trees after a tough year at Stamford Bridge, could he become a good value differential in Fantasy Premier League (FPL)?

BRIEF HISTORY

A product of Derby County and then Manchester City’s academies, Delap first began to attract widespread attention when he scored 24 goals in 20 matches to help City’s under-21 side win the Premier League 2 title in 2020/21.

Championship loan spells at Stoke City, Preston North End and, most successfully, Hull City earned a £15m summer move from the blue half of Manchester to Ipswich Town.

Delap scored a tidy 12 goals (two of them from the penalty spot) and delivered two assists from 32 starts in his maiden Premier League campaign. This was despite the Tractor Boys winning just four games and suffering relegation.

Chelsea had seen enough and splashed £30m for Delap’s services last summer, but the England youth international struggled in his single season at Stamford Bridge, failing to usurp fellow new arrival Joao Pedro (£7.6m) as the Blues’ chosen line-leader during a campaign hampered by shoulder and hamstring injuries plus managerial changes.

Delap ultimately scored only three goals in 47 appearances across all competitions for Chelsea, just one of which was in the league.

REASONS FOR OPTIMISM

Then-Ipswich boss Kieran McKenna got the most out of Delap in the 2024/25 season by allowing the young striker to use his pace and power to charge forward in possession. Delap’s 26 ball carries ending in a shot that year were the most of any Premier League striker.

Chelsea’s more controlled build-up play stifled that ability, to the point where Delap made just six shot-ending carries in 2025/26 (albeit from substantially fewer minutes).

During his time at Ipswich, Delap was often leading a counter-attacking side. McKenna’s men had the lowest average possession per match in the division that season (40.3%).

The Crystal Palace group coached by now-Forest boss Glasner last season, meanwhile, averaged among the lowest possession in the league (45.9%) and notably were comparable to Forest in that metric across each of the last two campaigns.

Encouragingly, both Forest and Glasner are understood to have held an interest in the striker last summer prior to his Chelsea move. That protracted pursuit, plus the club-record fee, should, in theory, spell good news for Delap’s chances of regular gametime.

Another interesting point to note here is that Delap will be reunited at Forest with former Man City youth teammate James McAtee (£5.5m), who started in central midfield in Gameweeks 1 and 2 after a promising pre-season. He has notably supplied more assists (10) for Delap in all competitions than any other player in his career.

HOW DOES DELAP FIT IN AT FOREST – AND WHO IS AT RISK?

One possible hiccup to Delap securing regular gametime is the fact that Forest currently have four forwards on their books. Having been dumped out of the Carabao Cup early and missed out on European football, there are just two competitions in which to try and give them all minutes.

Of the four, Arnaud Kalimuendo (£5.5m) probably sits at the bottom of the pecking order, at least as a centre-forward option. He may well yet leave but, even if he stays, he is also capable of playing as a wide No. 10, as an alternative to Forest’s various wingers, which we saw him do in the midweek cup loss to Leeds.

Chris Wood (£5.9m) led the line that day after coming off the bench in Gameweek 1. Now 34 and following an injury-hit season which saw him start just 11 Premier League matches, it’s uncertain how much we’ll see of the veteran Kiwi despite his 20-goal exploits the previous year. Might Glasner opt to use him as more of an impact sub than a regular starter? The New Zealand international didn’t even make it onto the field in Gameweek 2.

Which leaves Igor Jesus (£6.0m). Forest’s most regular line-leader last term, he doesn’t quite fit the profile of a sole centre-forward. The Brazilian is a hard worker on and off the ball but Delap definitely looks like a more ready-made Wood replacement in terms of stature and (pre-Chelsea) goal-scoring ability as a traditional centre-forward.

This is how Forest looked after Delap came on for Dan Ndoye (£5.5m) for his debut on Saturday – and it’s a set-up you can easily see being repeated throughout this season:

CURRENT FITNESS

It might be a little while before we see Delap in the starting XI, however.

The striker made a positive contribution when his quickly taken throw-in won Forest a penalty on Saturday.

But Glasner’s post-match comments suggested that match fitness is still an issue.

“I could see that he was, after one or two actions, heavily breathing. So, he needs to get a match fit. But yeah, very good first impression.” – Oliver Glasner on Liam Delap

PENALTY-TAKING BLOW

Another early blow to Delap’s FPL appeal was the fact that Nottingham Forest won a penalty at Anfield on Saturday and, despite being on the field at the time, it was not the £5.5m FPL forward who took it.

With Wood an unused substitute, it was Morgan Gibbs-White (£7.9m) who instead stepped up, despite a very mixed record from the spot last season.

YELLOW CARD MAGNET!

One word of warning regarding Delap’s disciplinary record.

Largely through his physical ball-chasing up front, he committed the second-most fouls of any player (72) during his season at Ipswich and ranked joint top for bookings, with 12 yellow cards!

COULD DELAP BE A VIABLE FPL PICK?

To conclude, there’s most definitely some appeal to Delap from an FPL perspective. 

Should he nail down a regular starting spot and rediscover the goal-scoring form that saw some ex-pros dubbing him England’s natural long-term successor to Harry Kane, his favourable price could see him become a valuable cut-price forward option.

No penalties would be a blow, yes, but a £5.5m starter who scored 10 non-penalty Premier League goals in a striggling Ipswich side could be perfect for ‘third forward’ duties. At the moment, there’s only really Taiwo Awoniyi, Thierno Barry, Emersonn and Oli McBurnie (all £5.5m) in that bracket. Three of those will likely be battling relegation.

For now, it’s a no. Glasner’s comments about fitness may mean substitute appearances for Delap for the time being. Even when he’s fully fit, it’s probably worth watching how the minutes are shared around Forest’s frontline in the coming weeks.

Gameweek 5 could be a good entry point (even that may be premature), and it’s worth considering a potential rotation with a Bournemouth attacker like Marcus Tavernier (£6.0m), who would nicely cover Gameweeks 7, 10 and 12, if needed.