Delap transfer 'reality' set out ahead of Ipswich return with Nottingham Forest

Head coach Oliver Glasner has backed summer signing Liam Delap to shrug off his price tag and hit top form for Nottingham Forest.

Finding the back of the net continues to be an issue for the Reds and they have paid the price for missing some big chances. Ahead of this evening’s trip to face Ipswich Town (8pm kick-off), they have scored just five goals in the Premier League and have just as many points as they sit in 19th spot.

Delap was brought in from Chelsea for £45 million to bolster Forest’s attacking threat. He has netted once so far but put in a particularly impressive overall performance in last Sunday’s 1-0 defeat to title holders Arsenal.

Glasner says it should be remembered that the 23-year-old is still relatively inexperienced in the top flight. Moreover, he had a challenging year at Stamford Bridge after joining from Ipswich in the summer of 2025.

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“I completely trust Liam. We always say that when people buy an expensive car, they want it to be the fastest one. But it’s not the reality sometimes, especially if you buy a used car,” Glasner said.

“Everybody forgets that Liam has had just one decent Premier League season in his entire career so far. At Chelsea, I think it was more downs than ups - frustration, losing confidence, losing his joy. So this was more or less the last year.

“It's now trying to restart where it ended at Ipswich - and Ipswich was also just one Premier League season because he joined them after promotion. That's why it takes a little bit of time.

“But he has shown his potential. The more games he plays, the more he will show his potential and the more we will get him into dangerous situations. And then, the more he can show his strengths - and that's absolutely his finishing.

“We always try to play to the players' strengths. Every player plays in the position where he can be the best version of himself and where he can play with his strengths.

“Liam had a great performance against Arsenal. It's also about what we need to improve and getting him into more positions where he can score.

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To get it, it's a simple one-two punch.

“When we had 24 shots at Selhurst Park (in the 3-1 defeat to Crystal Palace), he had just two finishes. He’s one of our best finishers in the team, so I would like him to have six or seven finishes - because if Liam Delap has six or seven finishes, I'm very confident that one finds the net because he's so good at this. It’s getting him into the right areas and into the position where he can have more finishes.”

Glasner is certain Delap is not burdened by any sense of expectation that accompanies his lofty transfer fee. He added: “It's just the market. It's the same if you go to the hairdresser, now you pay three times more than a few years ago but they don't feel bad about it.

“That's the football world now. Maybe five years ago you would have paid half the price. But on the other side, if you sell, you would have cut the price in half. Everything doubled and that's just how it is.”

Delap is far from the only Reds player guilty of squandering opportunities in recent games. But as he heads back to Portman Road, where he enjoyed a positive season in 2024/25, the forward will surely have added incentive to add to his goal tally.

“It's always something special for him,” Glasner said of Delap being back on familiar territory. “But he deserves to start again because he had such a great performance against Arsenal.

“I would never play a player just because he played for a club before. We always play the team I believe gives us the best chance to win.

“With his performances, Liam deserves to start. Of course, maybe for him it's something special but on the other side it's just another game.

“We did some finishing practice on Wednesday. All the attackers did some finishing separately after the training session and they scored plenty of goals.

“Sometimes you need this click and then things work. We hope that we can get this click at Ipswich.”

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