Ipswich Town have completed the signing of striker Liam Delap from Manchester City.
The 21-year-old has signed a five-year deal which runs until 2029.
The Athletic reported Ipswich had agreed a deal worth an initial £15million ($19.2m) plus an additional £5m due in potential add-ons with City for Delap.
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City also agreed similar terms with Southampton, but Delap chose to join Ipswich.
“I’m really excited,” Delap told TownTV “I have heard so many good things about the feeling around the club, and how the players and staff work. That’s exactly why I’m excited to be here.
“The manager here likes to play exciting football. It’s quick and intense and I am looking forward to that. I want to bring goals and assists and I’ll work as hard as I can to help the team.”
The striker spent last season on loan at Hull City, providing eight goals and two assists in 32 appearances in all competitions. He missed over three months of the season with a knee injury, sidelining him for 15 Championship matches as Hull narrowly missed out on a play-off spot.
Delap, the son of former Stoke City midfielder Rory, previously had loan spells in the Championship with Stoke City and Preston North End.
He joined the City academy from Derby County in 2019 and broke into the first team in 2020, going on to make two Premier League appearances.
George Hirst was Kieran McKenna’s first-choice striker for Ipswich during last season’s promotion-winning campaign and scored seven goals in 26 league appearances. However the 25-year-old, who joined the club last summer from Leicester City, was sidelined for four months due to a hamstring injury that required surgery, before returning for the final three matches of the season.
Kieffer Moore was brought in on loan from Bournemouth in January following Hirst’s injury and scored seven goals in 18 appearances during the second half of the season.
McKenna added: “We are delighted to bring Liam to the club. We think he is a player with the qualities to help the team this season but also to be an important player for the club for many years to come.
“He is a player with outstanding physical and technical attributes who has a hunger to come here and continue to learn and improve. He has gained good first-team experience from a young age and we feel he has the potential for development here.”
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Ipswich are preparing for their first season back in the Premier League since 2001-02, having secured back-to-back promotions.
They have already completed the permanent signings of Omari Hutchinson from Chelsea, defender Ben Johnson from West Ham United and defender Jacob Greaves from Hull City ahead of the new campaign.
(Top photo: George Wood/Getty Images)
