Nottingham Forest agree £50m deal to sign Delap from Chelsea

Nottingham Forest have agreed a club-record fee worth around £50m to sign Chelsea striker Liam Delap

The 23-year-old is expected to undergo a medical and sign a long-term contract at the City Ground this week. Delap's move comes a year after he joined Chelsea from Ipswich Town for £30m amid competition from Manchester United and Everton.

However, Chelsea made him available for sale this summer after he scored just one Premier League goal in a previous campaign disrupted by shoulder and hamstring injuries. Forest have already signed defender Ousmane Diomande from Sporting for £34m, alongside free agents, Austrian midfielder Xaver Schlager and goalkeeper Steve Benda.

They sold England midfielder Elliot Anderson to Manchester City for a club-record £116m and striker Taiwo Awoniyi to Coventry City for £9m. Delap's arrival would provide competition for strikers Chris Wood and Igor Jesus, who failed to find the target in Forest's 1-0 defeat by Leeds in their home Premier League opener on Saturday.

Chelsea have also signed two strikers this summer in Emmanuel Emegha from Strasbourg and Danny Welbeck from Brighton. Delap came up through Derby County's youth system before joining Manchester City in 2019.

After helping City win the FA Youth Cup in the 2019-20 campaign, he scored 24 goals in 20 Premier League 2 matches in 2020-21 as they won the title. In September 2020 the striker scored on his senior City debut in a 2-1 League Cup win against Bournemouth, and three days later made his Premier League debut in a 5-2 defeat by Leicester.

Injuries played a part in limiting further first-team opportunities, and between 2022 and 2024 Delap spent time on loan in the Championship with Stoke, Preston North End and Hull City. In the summer of 2024 he was sold for £20m by City to Ipswich and scored 12 goals in 37 Premier League games for the newly promoted side.