Liam Delap in strange situation after Man City reject transfer offer

Almost two years after he announced himself with a goal on his senior Manchester City debut, Liam Delap finds himself in a curious situation.

On Saturday morning, multiple reports emerged that City had rejected a £16m offer from Southampton to sign the 19-year-old striker. After selling both Gavin Bazunu and Romeo Lavia to the Saints this summer and shipping out other young players too, City have no intention of selling Delap this summer.

For Delap's prospects of forging a career at City, that is clearly a good sign. The fact that they were willing to turn down a hefty sum for a player who has made just six senior appearances speaks volumes of how highly he is rated.

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And they are right to do so. Delap has an outrageous scoring record at Premier League 2 U23 level, notching 24 goals in 20 games in 2020/21 and scoring eight in 10 last season.

Perhaps more significant is that, while City would consider letting Delap leave on loan in order to gain more senior minutes, the club ideally want to keep the striker close to home. It's no secret that the very best talents in City's academy are kept in the building rather than sent on loan, largely so that they can train with the first team and get up to speed with Pep Guardiola's system and tactics. That puts them in a position to make the step up to the first-team, if and when the time is right.

That was the case with Phil Foden and Cole Palmer, and unless he insists on a loan spell, James McAtee will do the same. Now Delap looks to be edging towards that path too — but something doesn't quite add up.

Following the signings of Erling Haaland and Julian Alvarez, there seems little chance that Delap will be