Ipswich Town’s first season back in the Premier League for 22 years has been a tough one so far.
Despite picking up some impressive draws against Aston Villa, Brighton & Hove Albion and Manchester United and beating Tottenham Hotspur and Wolverhampton Wanderers away, Kieran McKenna’s side find themselves down in the relegation zone.
However, with more than half of the season still to play, there is every chance the Tractor Boys can drag themselves to safety, especially with the incredible Liam Delap leading the line.
The 21-year-old poacher has been one of the signings of the season, so fans should be excited by reports from last month linking the club to another youngster who could be the next Delap.
Liam Delap's season so far
Delap joined Ipswich for around £20m over the summer, and while that looks like an absolute steal today, there was no guarantee he’d be a hit.
After all, his top-flight experience from his time with Manchester City amounted to 39 minutes in the 20/21 season and eight minutes in 21/22.
Fortunately for McKenna and the Ipswich faithful, the Winchester-born poacher has been brilliant in his first full campaign of Premier League football, and while he didn’t start the season on fire, he’s now racked up an impressive tally of six goals and one assist in 16 appearances, equating to a goal involvement every 2.28 games.
Moreover, his brace against Villa and strikes against Spurs and Fulham have helped the Suffolk side pick up points.
That said, it’s not just his goalscoring that makes the “incredible” star, as dubbed by the one and only Pep Guardiola, such an essential member of the team, it’s also his ability to hold up the ball, bring others into play and generally give opposition defenders something to worry about.
So, the prospect of the club potentially getting their hands on someone who could be the next Delap should excite fans.
The young striker who could be the next Delap
So, to get straight to the point, the youngster who could be Ipswich’s next Delap is 18-year-old Celtic prospect Daniel Cummings.
The teenage phenom, whom football writer Kai Watson dubbed “a pure goalscorer,” was linked with a plethora of Premier League and EFL clubs in a report from Football Insider late last month.
According to the story, the up-and-coming forward’s contract is set to expire in the summer, meaning he’d be available for a minuscule compensation fee of around €310k, which converts to just £262k, and based on his form at the youth level, that could be an incredible bargain.
For example, this season alone has seen the 6 foot 1 marksman rack up an incredible tally of 23 goals in 22 games, while his career tally stands at 38 goals and one assist in 56 appearances for the Hoops’ various youth sides, equating to an average of a goal involvement every 1.43 games.
It is too early to say with any certainty just how good the young Scotsman will be, but based on his sensational record at the youth level, the signs are certainly encouraging.
Appearances
10
24
22
Minutes
231′
1379′
1725′
Goals
3
12
23
Assists
0
1
0
Goal Involvements per Match
0.30
0.54
1.04
Minutes per Goal Involvement
77′
106′
75′
If McKenna and Co were able to get ahead of the chasing pack, then, like Delap, they’d have another incredibly promising, prolific and physically imposing striker on their hands and one that could be worth a king’s ransom sometime down the line.
Ultimately, Ipswich are already lucky to have a striker like the former City gem leading the line, but what’s better than one devastating young striker? Two, of course.
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