Pep Guardiola has a decision to make on Liam Delap’s future and may be torn whether to stick or twist. The 19-year-old has outgrown Manchester City’s U18s and U23s but may not be a regular in the first-team due to competition from Erling Haaland and Julian Alvarez.
Southampton are trying to capitalise on the situation by signing Delap permanently, but City have no intention of selling and rejected their £16m bid. They’re open to loaning him out for the season and Alan Hutton says Guardiola wouldn’t let a highly-rated player leave for good.
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He told Football Insider: “I wouldn’t have thought (he’s) in the plans, but I think he could be in the future. Pep has shown a willingness to put (Delap) into the team in certain situations like (domestic cups). He obviously sees something in him.
“He trains with the (first-team) day in day out (and) has seen enough to think that (Delap) has got something for the future. They won’t want to let that go on the cheap, so I think they would prefer to send him out on loan. Pep Guardiola isn’t daft.”
Delap joined City from Derby County in 2020 and has gone on to make six appearances in all competitions, scoring one goal. The 19-year-old has impressed at youth level, scoring 10 goals with seven assists from 16 games for the U18 and netting 35 times with nine assists from 36 games for the U23s.
Delap has four years remaining on his deal at City and is rated highly at the club, but he needs regular playing time to continue his development. The 19-year-old didn’t get a lot of minutes across the board last season despite Gabriel Jesus being City’s only centre-forward, so Delap may fare better being loaned out.