What Liam Delap has said about Man City and Pep Guardiola as Southampton face transfer decision

Liam Delap has previously suggested that he is in a great position at Manchester City learning from Pep Guardiola.

The teenage striker is on the radar for Southampton this summer and has reportedly been the subject of bids from Saints, which Manchester City have rejected with the Premier League champions not willing to sell the 19-year-old this summer.

It is understood that Pep Guardiola sees the striker, who is the son of former Southampton midfielder Rory Delap, as a big part of City's future, with the teenager impressing at U18 and U23 level in recent seasons, earning him a handful of opportunities at first team level with Guardiola's side.

The first of those came in the 2020/21 season, with Delap speaking of how stunned he was to be getting the chance to play for City at the age of just 17. Speaking to SportBible last summer, he reflected on the moment he was told of his debut, and his honest reaction to the call, adding that he was almost in shock when he was told he would be playing in a Carabao Cup tie with Bournemouth in September 2020.

That was to be the first of six chances he has had at first team level for City, with Delap impressing Guardiola with his prolific form for the U23 side, scoring 24 goals in 20 games in the 2020/21 season and another eight in ten games last term.

And Delap has spoken about how much he learns from being with City and the tutelage of Guardiola, who has won titles as a manager in Spain, Germany and England with Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Manchester City respectively.

"It’s so so good. You can absorb so much information from him," Delap has said of training under Guardiola.

"He’s one of the best managers in the world and he has so much information and so much knowledge he can