Share this @internewscast.com
You don’t necessarily have to have played for Manchester City to join Chelsea, but recent trends indicate it’s certainly an advantage. Liam Delap looks set to be the latest player to strengthen this intriguing link, which seems to grow with every transfer window.
Before delving into this connection between City and Stamford Bridge, it’s worth mentioning the KDB Cup, a fascinating event. Pep Guardiola’s discovery of Romeo Lavia at this tournament in 2018 may have laid the foundation for his £30 million acquisition several years later.
The KDB Cup, named in honor of Kevin De Bruyne, is a global youth tournament that showcases top Under-15 talents, offering attendees a glimpse of football’s future stars.
Mail Sport was sent a list of the scouts in attendance at the weekend’s KDB Cup. It was 75-strong and included representatives from Arsenal, Bournemouth, Ajax, Bayern Munich, Juventus, Leeds United, Genk and even one from League One Blackpool.
It also listed seven accredited visitors from City, and four from Chelsea. Their own clubs competed but did not lift the trophy. On this occasion, it was Barcelona who triumphed, beating Club Bruges 2-1 in the final.
Liam Delap is set to join Chelsea for £30million from Ipswich after scoring 12 goals this season
Delap joined Manchester City’s academy in 2019 from Derby and spent five years with the club
Delap played six times for the Pep Guardiola’s first team before joining Ipswich last summer
As well as Jamal Musiala, Jeremy Doku, Rico Lewis, Eric Garcia, Noni Madueke, Anthony Gordon, Levi Colwill and more who used this Belgian stage to showcase their promise, in 2018 it was the turn of Lavia.
Guardiola happened to be an attendee that year, and he spied the 14-year-old impressing for Anderlecht as they went on to win the KDB Cup.
Lavia joined City from Anderlecht once eligible, on the recommendation of Guardiola, but now? Now, he is with Chelsea, whose supporters have dubbed him ‘Agent Romeo’.
The suggestion is, amid the £30m chase for Delap, he was the one encouraging his friend and former City youth team-mate to choose Chelsea over all of his other options.
With Chelsea triggering his release clause at Ipswich Town, Delap is set to walk into a changing room featuring others who previously wore a lighter shade of blue. As well as Lavia, there is Cole Palmer, Tosin Adarabioyo and Jadon Sancho, the Manchester United loanee with whom Chelsea are in talks to keep if personal terms can be agreed.
The City academy contingent could yet be boosted by the arrival of Jamie Gittens, the English Borussia Dortmund winger being chased by Chelsea before the Club World Cup gets going in the United States.
They have also been linked with Aston Villa’s Morgan Rogers, and wanted City’s Nico O’Reilly in the last window, and Crystal Palace’s Michael Olise in the window before that.
Then there is Enzo Maresca, Chelsea’s head coach who was an assistant to Guardiola and worked for City’s academy, with Delap scoring a deluge of goals under him for their development side.
Cole Palmer was an opportunistic signing for Chelsea after he struggled for game time at City
Romeo Lavia will be team-mates with Delap once again at Stamford Bridge from next season
Chelsea’s former City academy contingent could be bolstered by Dortmund’s Jamie Gittens
That link has been key, with Maresca pitching the project to him personally last week. Word is Delap was even told to envisage himself leading the line in Chelsea’s system while watching the Conference League final, which they won 4-1 over Real Betis in Wroclaw, Poland, with one source saying the 22-year-old liked what he saw.
Glenn van der Kraan is Chelsea’s academy technical director, having formerly been head of coaching in City’s youth development system. Stewart Thompson is a first-team scout who was at City, where he worked with Joe Shields, now co-director of recruitment and talent at Chelsea.
Shields is known to have a good relationship with Delap and his family, but it would be wrong to dismiss Chelsea’s City connection as nepotism.
City are an elite club who offer one of the best upbringings in the game, with their fledglings taught how to play the philosophy of the first team from the get-go. That is similar to the possession-based style Maresca has been trying to implement himself.
Breaking into City’s starting line-up is an arduous task for anyone and so graduates leave in search of guaranteed game time. Palmer was one such opportunistic purchase for Chelsea.
Delap will hope he can be the latest Guardiola cast-off to show he should have never been sold by City. It is believed the £30m fee – modest by Premier League standards and certainly for a striker – could ease the pressure on him. It is also hoped that by already knowing Palmer, Lavia and Co, he will not take too long to settle in at Stamford Bridge. We will soon see.
