Liam Delap is quickly becoming one of the most promising young strikers in the Premier League. At just 22 years old, he has already secured himself 12 goals this season, despite the fact that he has been playing for the team with the third least shots in the league. And now he is being linked with big moves to clubs like Chelsea and even Manchester United. So, how good is he?
So when it comes to his hold-up play, Delap is an effective striker, a very physical young presence and almost a bit of a throwback striker, someone that uses his body incredibly well and is constantly engaged in battles with the centre-backs.
In terms of his strength, he uses it excellently, mainly using his stiff arms to get his arm across the chest of the opposition, making it almost impossible for the centre-back to beat him to the ball. He also does something very similar with his legs. He’s got quite thick, strong, stocky legs, and he uses those to get between the ball and the opposition. Once again, preventing the opposition from getting towards him.
But Delap importantly doesn’t just rely on strength and physical traits, he’s also quite clever and intelligent with his movement, often using what we would call double movements to escape from the centre-back.
So he’s initially going to make a run in behind to drag the centre-back deeper and then drop into the space that he’s just created for himself. And this gives him separation away from the centre-back. So he doesn’t always have to be involved in a physical duel. He can create space for himself to give himself more time on the ball.
In terms of once he’s got that time on the ball, the product is inconsistent from Delap. Sometimes he can be quite effective and quite nice watching his passing play, quickly using quick flicks and tricks to find his teammates in space. But in other moments, the control can be lacking. He can be quite inconsistent with his first touch, occasionally shinning the ball off the pitch for a throw-in or failing some of the most simple passes that you will see.
Delap is far from a false nine. He’s not a Joshua Zerxi. He’s not a Roberto Firmino. He’s not a false nine at all. He’s a big, strong striker who likes to use his body, but he can also use his feet. So Delap’s hold-up play is strong. It’s effective, but it needs work and it’s certainly not his biggest strength.
Now when it comes to ball carrying, we are talking about one of the best strikers in the Premier League. Delap possesses ox-like strength. And I’m not talking about Oxlade-Chamberlain. I’m talking about the animal.
Delap is an absolute beast with the way that he carries the ball. You can see in terms of his numbers in the Premier League this season, one of the strongest ball carriers, frequently picking the ball up and driving at the heart of the opposition defence.
Now when he does this, he’s not particularly subtle or agile. He’s not someone to quickly twist and turn and change direction to shift the feet of the opposition. It’s more about power, knocking the ball into space and trusting his physical presence to barge his way past the opposition, a bit like a bull in a china shop at times.
But again, he uses his body really well, using his upper body to hold the opposition off and trusting his acceleration over the first 5 to 10 yards. This is a player that can literally drag his whole team up the pitch with his sheer hunger and of course his technical traits.
You can see in moments like this for Ipswich, he doesn’t really have an option at all. He picks the ball up on the halfway line and just drives and doesn’t stop, keeps getting himself all the way into the penalty area from where he eventually shoots. And in terms of shot creating actions from take-ons, he is one of the very best in the Premier League.
And again, that comes down to his mental traits, his desire, his hunger to move forward and attack the opposition penalty area. But also his physical strength. This is one of the very best ball carrying players in the Premier League.
Now when it comes to his finishing, De Lappe is a high volume shooter, someone who is looking to get shots off at goal at every available opportunity. He’s going to work himself half a yard of space and then look to pull the trigger.
Importantly, he can do this off both feet and that makes it much easier for him to get these shots off at goal. He doesn’t necessarily have to work the perfect angle because he can shoot with either foot, with incredible power and consistency with the ball striking technique.
This season he has played for an Ipswich side which has struggled to get shots off at goal, but he’s actually managed to attempt 19% of all of their shots in the Premier League this season. And he’s actually scored 37.5% of all of their goals as well.
That’s a striker feeding off scraps but making it work, taking every opportunity to shoot at goal and ultimately he is finding the back of the net on a regular basis. He is a good, strong, effective finisher in the final third, often sniffing out chances which will come back to shortly.
Whilst we stick to the finishing momentarily, there are concerns as well. De Lappe is a player which often relies on power and hitting the ball, quite frankly, quite hard, rather than necessarily going for finesse. He’s not an Anthony Martial-like finisher, someone who’s going to regularly bend the ball into the corner or roll the ball under the keeper or even dink it over an onrushing goalkeeper.
De Lappe often relies on shot power. Now that’s not necessarily a bad thing. If you have a go-to shooting trait or a trademark at such a young age, that’s brilliant because that shows that you’ve put a lot of work into a certain shooting technique and for De Lappe that tends to work.
However, there can be moments where it backfires, particularly with his long-range shooting. When he picks the ball up on the edge of the penalty area, again, he has this shoot-first mindset. He’s not too keen on trying to find teammates, although perhaps this is tactical instruction. But very often he is going to shoot at goal and the end product from range is incredibly inconsistent.
He often sort of goes for too much power, lashes at the ball, and it can end up going 30 yards high and wide, which isn’t ideal for your striker. If he was to get a move to a bigger club, he would need to make better decisions in the final third with when he is shooting. You can’t always get a shot off at goal; sometimes you have to find that teammate in a bit of space.
However, in terms of the fundamental trait of being a striker that wants to shoot at goal, that’s a great thing to have. Goal scoring is sometimes not something you can teach; you need an instinct, and De Lappe has that. He has this desire, this innate instinct to want to get the ball in to the back of the net, and you can’t teach that.
Now when it comes to his aerial work, De Lappe is a pretty effective striker. Again, we’ve spoken about the fact that he is tall, he is strong, and he uses his body well. He’s also got an incredibly good leap on him, often rising well above the opposition.
You can see in his numbers this season in terms of his aerial duel success rate, he’s not doing too badly at all, especially considering the fact that once again he is playing for a poor Ipswich side. They don’t necessarily always give him the best supply line; they are not the perfect passers for him to try and deal with, so he’s doing pretty well. However, in terms of in the penalty area, I think there’s more to come from De Lappe.
I think we need to see more from him. Again, he is certainly a player which can win headers. In terms of on set pieces, he is often a sort of beacon for Ipswich in the penalty area, the player that they aim for with their deliveries into the box as opposed to one of the centre backs. But the end product with the headers, the direction, the placement of the headers needs a bit of work.
So again, physically he’s got the traits; he uses his body well, he uses his arms to hold off the opposition as he jumps, and again the power in his legs is quite astonishing. But the final bit, the direction, the placement needs a bit of work, but I am confident that he will get there with that.
Now perhaps De Lappe’s biggest trait or his best trait is his box movement. We’re talking about a player here playing for a team who doesn’t get shots off in the Premier League, yet De Lappe has still managed 12 goals.
The reason he’s been able to do that is because his movement in the box is actually fantastic for a young player. Again, he is utilising double movements, which means moving in one direction to drag the defender and then attacking the space that you have created.
So sometimes he will dart towards the touchline, towards the goal line, to take the centre backs deeper, and then he’ll drop off just a little bit deeper into the space around a penalty area to finish into the back of the net. On another occasion, we’ll see him starting on the edge of the box, holding his position on the edge, and then eventually attacking the space in between the two centre backs.
Something else that he loves to do is play on the back of defenders, but he doesn’t just stay there and wait for the cross to come in. He loves to attack across them, so he will stand behind a centre back. Of course, that old age saying of if you can see the centre back’s number, you’ve got them exactly where you want them because that means you can’t see them.
De Lappe thrives off this, standing on the back of a defender and then at the last minute making a late run across in front of them to attack the space. And again, that’s something that is really important here.
De Lappe is a hungry striker, someone who attacks the space, is always active in the penalty area. You’ll rarely see him just walking about; he’s always on the go, he’s always hustling and bustling with the centre backs, lots of physical contact, lots of little shoves in the penalty area to try and make that bit of space for himself.
But importantly, it’s the way that he creates space firstly for himself, but then secondly attacks the space that he has just created. And we’ve seen already when he attacks that space, he tends to finish pretty well. Of course, once again the fact that he is two-footed helps him; he doesn’t need as much time in the penalty area, he can quickly get the shot off.
And I think that would be something that’s very important should he get the move to a big club like Manchester United. When that ball comes into the box, De Lappe needs to be able to get there to attack it and finish with both feet, and De Lappe can certainly do that.
All in all, De Lappe is certainly a very good Premier League striker and deserves to play in the Premier League next season, and I’m very almost certain that he will, to be honest with you. The big question is, is he ready to lead the line of a top Premier League side? I still have question marks; I still have slight concerns.
You know, his technical traits are inconsistent, he’s not a smooth passer. If he does get a move to a big club like United, then fans will need to be patient. He will need coaching; it will take time. His first touch isn’t perfect; it is inconsistent. He doesn’t necessarily have a variety of finishes in his locker at this moment in time.
But if you back him, if you work with him, if you give him time, and if you’re patient, which are all big ifs if we’re being honest, but if you do those things, I think we are talking about one of the next big strikers in the Premier League.
Physically he has pretty much every trait that you would need, and we know for a fact that it works in the Premier League because he’s literally already done it in his first season in this league. He is only going to get better; he’s an amazing young striker.
His mindset is something that will take him a long way in his career. I’m convinced De Lappe is a very, very good striker. The question is over the timing and the patience of the club that he moves to, so should United sign? The question is over the timing and the patience of the club that he moves to. So should United sign him this summer, which apparently we’re going to, I would encourage you to be patient because he is far from perfect.
But I think if we give him a little bit of time, he’s got really, really good foundation. He’s got amazing fundamental skill set, which will take him a long, long way in his career.
So personally, for the fee, £30 million, I think this is good business from United if we do it in the summer. If we do do this business in the summer, we will see another video on the lap.
