Wednesday night finally brought confirmation that Liam Delap has joined Chelsea from Ipswich Town for a fee of around £30m.

Fresh from a double whammy of winning the Conference League and securing Champions League football for the first time in three seasons, the Blues did well to beat off all the competition for this highly-regarded centre-forward.

So, will the 22-year-old successfully make the step up, and what impact will he have in Fantasy Premier League (FPL)?

We’ll take a look during this Moving Target piece, including data and images from our Premium Members Area.

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DELAP TO CHELSEA: IN QUOTES

“Cole is incredible in everything he does. I can’t wait to be in front of him again and receive his passes!” – Liam Delap on reuniting with Cole Palmer, whom he played alongside for Manchester City’s youth teams

“He is an incredible coach and helped us all develop so much. What we did that season was record-breaking, and what he’s gone on to achieve – and what the players in that age group have achieved – is incredible.

“He has a great understanding of the game. He was very detailed in how he approached things with us and while it can be hard at that age to take on so much information, he brought it across in a way we understood and could put into our games.” – Liam Delap on reuniting with Enzo Maresca, who was manager of Manchester City’s title-winning 2020/21 Elite Development Squad

THE HISTORY

For Delap, it all started at Derby County’s academy, aged six. But a decade later, he made the move to Manchester City, whose Elite Development Squad has presented the world with names like Phil Foden, Cole Palmer, Jadon Sancho, Morgan Rogers, Jamie Gittens, Romeo Lavia, Tosin Adarabioyo, Jeremie Frimpong and James McAtee in recent years.

Three of these (not including Sancho) are already at Chelsea. This played a big role in Delap preferring Stamford Bridge, just like his familiarity with head coach Enzo Maresca and recruiter Joe Shields.

September 2020 brought a Man City debut goal in the EFL Cup, before making his Premier League debut three days later in a 5-2 home defeat to Leicester City. All while lots of goals came at youth level.

However, pre-Erling Haaland, Pep Guardiola wasn’t sure whether he wanted to play with a number nine. He sent Delap on some Championship loans to gain experience.

First, it was Stoke City in 2022/23, the place where his dad Rory became synonymous with spectacular long throws. Halfway through, Liam was redirected to Preston North End but couldn’t make an impact. 2023/24 was at Hull City, showing enough potential for newly-promoted Ipswich to splash an initial £15m on him.

Delap rose to the challenge, grabbing an impressive 12 goals and two assists for a team whose instant relegation was confirmed with four matches left to play. Not bad, considering the limited service.

This included a brace against Aston Villa and other double-digit FPL tallies versus Tottenham Hotspur and new club Chelsea.

Yet to play for England, there are hopes among footballing people that Delap making the correct move this summer could put him on the path to eventually replace Harry Kane. After winning the UEFA European Under-19 Championship in 2022, he’s since netted three times for the Under-21s.

PLAYING STYLE

What excites people about Delap is that he resembles both an old-fashioned striker and a modern one. A strong, powerful battering ram who also likes dropping into pockets of space and running.

Above: Goal attempts are on the left (green being on target), dribbles on the right (greens are successful)

For Ipswich, he’s a progressive dribbler in a team that needs to quickly counter-attack and directly get up the pitch. A graph from The Athletic shows that no 2024/25 player had a higher average distance per ball carry (in metres).

Delap is good at holding up play and strikes the ball very cleanly, shown in Gameweek 30’s thumping strike at Bournemouth. He was able to overperform expected goals (xG) by 2.66 in 2024/25, suggesting he’s a clinical finisher.

Furthermore, there’s been variety in his dozen top-flight goals. His maiden one against Fulham was a burst forward from the halfway line before scoring a long-ranger, whereas good anticipation got him on the end of several crosses on other occasions, including a near-post flick.

Throw in two penalties and a couple of tap-ins – one on the line versus Tottenham Hotspur – alongside a calm one-on-one finish past Southampton and you have a well-rounded striker. Eight from the right foot, four from the left.

Above: He likes his clearer opportunities: 10 of his 12 goals had a StatsBomb xG of over 0.10

Even so, this promising talent needs to improve in a few areas. His passing isn’t the best and he commits a few too many fouls from the front. That’s why, as mentioned in our alternative end-of-season awards, Delap collected the season’s joint-most yellow cards (12).

WHERE DELAP FITS IN AT CHELSEA

Constantly linked with forwards like Hugo Ekitike, Viktor Gyökeres and Victor Osimhen, it’s been clear for a while that this is Chelsea’s priority position.

If Delap is all they buy up front, he has a good chance of consistent game time. Already a squad full of youthful players – the Blues’ average starting XI age was 24 years and 36 days, the youngest ever for a single Premier League season – it feels like he is their perfect recruit in several ways. Cheap, young, familiar with the boss and in a position desperately needed.

Interestingly, Delap arrives in time for FIFA’s Club World Cup. If he chooses that over the European Under-21 Championships, we’ll get an early look at how he’ll be used.

“To compare Liam with Harry Kane and Erling Haaland, I think it’s a bit early. But for sure, in terms of style he’s that kind of player. They are all real nines. They are nines inside the box.” – Enzo Maresca, in April, suggesting Delap will stay closer to goal

Because, while his direct ball-carrying was ideal for 2024/25’s lowest team for possession (40.6%), he is joining the third-highest (57.2%). Chelsea aren’t about counter-attacking; they use an inverted full-back and patient passing.

It’s a transition that could take some getting used to, but, of course, Maresca knows what he’s buying.

WILL DELAP BE WORTH BUYING IN FPL?

Overall, Chelsea ranked third throughout the league for attempts (595) and shots on target (208). Up in second for big chances (120), they were below xG by 5.18 goals.

Before any other moves are made, Delap initially provides competition to Nicolas Jackson, someone he’s somewhat similar to in style but with one noticeable difference. Unlike his new colleague, the Senegalese international actually underperformed in comparison to xG (-2.24). Just two players missed more big chances (21).

If Delap rediscovers his understanding with Palmer, both may benefit. The league’s number two for chances created (89) and big chances created (24), combining with a better finisher.

It’s worth noting that Delap isn’t the only one enjoying a good relationship with star man Palmer. A March article about Jackson’s return from injury floated an idea that Chelsea tend to be better when he’s around, despite the profligacy.

xG chain data gives credit to pre-assists and showed that, until then, Jackson was the league’s best forward when looking at player involvement in attacks. It’s just that this partnership usually involves one creating and the other missing, whereas we’ve seen Palmer and Delap assist each other plenty of times at youth level for Man City and England.

This is all to say that we don’t know for sure that Delap is nailed-on to start beyond Gameweek 1, when Jackson is suspended. Maybe not even Gameweek 1, if someone like Ekitike arrives and Jackson moves elsewhere.

Facing Champions League opponents instead of Noah and Astana, we won’t see Maresca using his backup players in Europe. And any sort of rotation has to seriously dent Delap’s FPL appeal.

A forward without penalty duties isn’t ideal for FPL managers, either. It didn’t hold Yoane Wissa or Matheus Cunha back but we’d prefer our strikers to have spot-kick duties.

All in all, then, a forward with great potential to make his mark at Chelsea, but the initial feeling (without seeing pre-season, FPL price, fixture list etc) is that there could be game-time risk – and that would heighten further if someone like Ekitike arrives.