Manchester United are keen on signing Liam Delap from Ipswich Town this summer – despite reports suggesting that the club is reluctant to spend £60m on another young goalscorer after Rasmus Hojlund and Joshua Zirkzee.
Delap has found the net a dozen times in the Premier League despite the Tractor Boys looking destined for an immediate return to the Championship and that form has earned plenty of admirers.
United, who have also been linked with Sporting Lisbon’s Viktor Gyokeres, are among them but the Manchester Evening News suggests that the money spent on Hojlund and Zirkzee in the past two seasons may leave them reluctant to commit another big sum.
The MEN report, quoting an anonymous but senior club source, said that during the 2023 pre-season tour United had to get their striker signing (Hojlund) right that summer and that has effectively produced a rule within the club that they would not repeat their mistake. “If you don’t, then you can’t spend another £60million on one 12 months later,” the source said.
But Hojlund, who cost £72million from Atalanta, has found the net just once in 26 games and Zirkzee, brought in to ease the pressure on Hojlund last summer, has managed six goals in 46 appearances.
Those attacking struggles have contributed significantly to United being in the bottom half of the Premier League table.
And while head coach Ruben Amorim is plotting a way past Ligue 1 side Lyon over two leagues in the Europa League quarter-finals, should they fail to win that competition and miss out on the Champions League, United’s transfer plans this summer will be impacted further.
The squad has clauses that sees their wages reduced on account of missing out on the Champions League but the lack of earnings from being in Europe’s most lucrative competition – which has boosted Arsenal ’s coffers by more than £50million in prize money already – will limit their ability to revamp Amorim’s squad.
Several high earners are expected to be moved on in the off-season but the club is determined to remain on the right side of financial fair play regulations and missing out on European football will be a complicating factor.
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