Nottingham Forest taking big-money punt on Liam Delap, but is he worth it?

[p]The former [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/crystal-palace/AovF1Mia/"]Crystal Palace[/a] manager watched on as his side were [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/soccer/leeds-tUxUbLR2/nottingham-UsushcZr/?mid=Y9N0tMU0"]knocked out of the Carabao Cup in front of their own fans[/a] at the City Ground by [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/leeds/tUxUbLR2/"]Leeds United[/a].[/p][h2]Two defeats in two for Glasner[/h2][p]That 2-0 defeat, thanks to goals by [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/james-daniel/UctCitdL/"]Daniel James[/a] and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/justin-james/vqYXNUDI/"]James Justin[/a], came just three days after the same club won 1-0 at the same stadium, in the Premier League, and it will surely sound alarm bells for trigger-happy owner Evangelos Marinakis.[/p][p]As will [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/glasner-oliver/CznGurCt/"]Glasner's[/a] post-match comments, which certainly won't go down well in the corridors of power.[/p][embed guid="9873f1eb-6631-47e4-9066-ab8e818d5137" url="https://x.com/Carabao_Cup/status/2092383167038550457" social-type="twitter" /][p][b]"Maybe our best midfielder ([a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/anderson-elliott/KdYCbsbE/"]Elliot Anderson[/a]) leaves the club, and now we expect to compete for European places because Oliver Glasner is in. Sorry, this isn't what I can deliver within six weeks. [/b][b]I’m no magician, no messiah," [/b]the Austrian told reporters.[/p][p]Whilst that dose of reality is arguably what's needed, public criticism from a manager has rarely worked out well at any club.[/p][p]Perhaps what's even more baffling is [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/nottingham/UsushcZr/"]Forest[/a]'s recent foray into the transfer market.[/p][infobox id="c5ce5f5a-ccb6-468f-9fce-bb4a330c372a" /][h2]Forest make club record bid for Liam Delap[/h2][p]Prior to the game against the All Whites, it had been announced that the club had agreed a club record fee for [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/chelsea/4fGZN2oK/"]Chelsea[/a] striker [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/delap-liam/6cfkytBh/"]Liam Delap[/a].[/p][p]Subject to a successful medical, the Midlands-based outfit will pay £45m for the 23-year-old, with £5m in add-ons.[/p][embed guid="29eadd48-874a-4c51-be2a-e572c2742cea" url="https://x.com/FabrizioRomano/status/2092297698065977584" social-type="twitter" /][p]Under normal circumstances, that may have seemed like a more than reasonable deal for Forest, but the plain fact is that Delap scored just one Premier League goal in the whole of the 2025/26 campaign.[/p][p]In eight domestic cup appearances, he managed three assists but no goals, and in 11 appearances between the Champions League and the FIFA Club World Cup, he scored two and made one more.[/p][h2]Glasner convinced of Delap's potential[/h2][p]Scoring three goals and providing four assists in 47 games in all competitions is hardly the type of form that would see any team shell out a record-breaking fee, but that's exactly what's happened.[/p][p]Reports suggest that Glasner is convinced that Delap's more physical profile will thrive in Forest's front line, and evidently, Marinakis is willing to back the judgment from his manager.[/p][image alt="Liam Delap - Career stats" id="078757a6-7d18-4487-8062-7736ef0f305e" credit-line="Flashscore" guid="d7e3226a-7209-492e-bc58-0707f80e9dda" original-width="2160" original-height="2702" /][p]In fairness to Glasner, he did manage to extract the maximum from his players when at Crystal Palace, so maybe he knows something that no one else does about the Englishman, and he'll be having the last laugh if Delap comes good.[/p][p]The player's all-round figures just don't inspire confidence, however.[/p][h2]Awful all-round figures[/h2][p]A shot conversion rate in the English top-flight last season of only 2.78% is a horrendous stat for a centre-forward, as is the fact he managed just 36 total shots in those 47 games, of which 11 were on target - effectively one shot on target in every four matches played.[/p][p]Given that Glasner appears to see Delap as a target man for Forest, the expectation might be that his heading ability would at least redeem him, given how poor his shot conversion was for Chelsea.[/p][image alt="Liam Delap's Premier League figures for 2025/26" id="a39b5f07-842e-40bf-b95f-6e1e27b5c66c" credit-line="Flashscore" guid="4f3af663-8cca-4cbd-8afe-7360cc396464" original-width="2160" original-height="2702" /][p]Nine headers across the season, but only one on target would absolutely disprove that theory too.[/p][p]Delap did at least have 11 big chances created during the campaign, albeit he managed to get just three of them on target.[/p][image alt="Liam Delap's radar graphic - Premier League 2025/26" id="d7a86490-58d1-4429-859a-b3c40db2a1e6" credit-line="Opta by Stats Perform" guid="bdcdd77b-0c67-4e46-92e0-1bf53507d00d" original-width="768" original-height="576" /][p]If we concentrate on one-on-one duels both aerially and on the ground, unfortunately, here too the striker fell well short of expectations.[/p][p]Aerially, he contested 76 duels but won only 29 of them, whilst his 241 ground one-on-ones saw him emerge successfully on 87 occasions.[/p][h2]Improvements to be made and a point to prove[/h2][p]That his best duel percentage was recorded at 39.07% is another reason for Forest to be very wary of their purchase.[/p][p]Although his pass completion statistics for 25/26 veered between an acceptable 66.67% and an excellent 82.35%, it should be borne in mind that he did only make 319 total passes across the season, which was the worst return of those players who could be considered as regulars for the Blues.[/p][image alt="Liam Delap's pass map - Premier League 2025/26" id="8f38096a-2fef-4736-a0dc-fad6a72c82de" credit-line="Opta by Stats Perform" guid="b2344f29-06e4-4da5-9d64-261ffe77ed8b" original-width="768" original-height="576" /][p]It's clear, then, that there's an awful lot of improvement that needs to be made by Delap in his all-round game, in order for him to be able to fully justify Forest's astronomical spend.[/p][p]That he has his own personal point to prove may well be to his new club's advantage, and with a run of games under his belt (he started only 20 of Chelsea's last season), he may find that the rhythm and accuracy from his [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/ipswich/thqhB2MB/"]Ipswich[/a] days returns.[/p][p]Oliver Glasner will certainly be hoping so.[/p][infobox id="8a8311c3-81b3-440e-8b49-36091db073d1" /]