Liam Delap was sent to Stoke City on a season-long loan this summer after failing to convince Pep Guardiola that he was worth keeping in the senior squad and it remains to be seen if he’ll have a long-term future at the Etihad Stadium.
The 19-year-old greatly impressed at youth level and scored for the first-team, but Guardiola’s decision to sign Julian Alvarez and Erling Haaland in consecutive transfer windows appears to have killed his chance of getting a look in.
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With Delap being loaned out to a club that finished 14th in the Championship last season, his stock is clearly low right now. Guardiola was honest about Delap’s development, admitting the England youth international is some way off being in the first-team, so he’s not kicked on.
He told the Manchester Evening News: “Some players on loan, like Liam Delap, it’s important for them to play regularly. Because of the competition in their position, maybe it’s better as a club, for the players, to realise if they are able to play (elsewhere) because the gap between the academy and first team is so big.”
Delap scored 11 goals with seven assists from 17 games for the U18s and scored 35 goals with nine assists from 36 games for the U21s, but his form in the academy had only led to six appearances in the last two seasons. So it’s no wonder Guardiola loaned him out, as Alvarez and Haaland are tried and tested strikers.
Delap is getting his chance for first-team football, but he’s having to play a lot lower than the City duo to get it.
In other news, Pep Guardiola praises Cole Palmer and shuts down exit talk