Nottingham Forest to sign Chelsea striker Liam Delap for around £50m

On 25 August 2026, Nottingham Forest agreed a club-record fee worth around £50m to sign Chelsea striker Liam Delap. The 23-year-old striker will move from Chelsea to Nottingham Forest.

Delap has scored 13 goals in 67 Premier League appearances and joined Chelsea from Ipswich Town for £30m a year ago. 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.

He came up through Derby County's youth system before joining Manchester City in 2019 and helped City win the FA Youth Cup in the 2019-20 campaign. Delap scored 24 goals in 20 Premier League 2 matches in 2020-21 as they won the title, scored on his senior City debut in a 2-1 League Cup win against Bournemouth in September 2020 and made his Premier League debut three days later in a 5-2 defeat by Leicester.

Injuries limited further first-team opportunities and, between 2022 and 2024, Delap spent time on loan 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.

Forest have already completed other summer business, signing defender Ousmane Diomande from Sporting for £34m and bringing in free agents Austrian midfielder Xaver Schlager and goalkeeper Steve Benda. They have also 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 Forest 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 is expected to undergo a medical and sign a long-term contract at the City Ground this week.