Moyes: We'd love Delap if he'd choose Everton

David Moyes says that Liam Delap is a player Everton would be very interested in signing but he admits that the striker will have plenty of suitors this summer when he is expected to leave Ipswich Town.

The Tractor Boys, the Toffees’ opponents this weekend for the penultimate top-flight fixture to be played at Goodison Park, have been relegated back to the Championship having found their return to the Premier League after a 22-year absence tough going.

Despite being the best placed of the three teams to come up from the second tier last year, Kieran McKenna’s side have amassed just 21 points so far and will already be working on plans for another promotion in 2025/26.

Delap, however, Ipswich’s top scorer with 12 league goals to his name, will almost certainly be leaving Portman Road this summer, with a number of clubs said to be interested in triggering his reported £30m release clause.

At 22 and exhibiting strength and an eye for goal both inside and outside the box, Delap ticks many boxes for clubs looking to add goals and physical presence up front and Everton are more desperate than most in that regard.

However, Manchester United and Chelsea have been linked with a move for him while Newcastle United and Nottingham Forest could also be seeking centre-forward options and can offer Delap European football next season.

“He would be one who we would certainly have an interest in,” Moyes told the print media today. “I think what he probably has to look at will probably be bigger than what we are.

“So, we would certainly be interested if he was interested in us. That’s for sure.”

Moyes will make signing a striker a priority this summer having seen Beto fail to build on a flurry of goals he scored early on in the Scot’s second tenure as Everton boss while the Club are not expected to take up the option to sign Armando Broja from Chelsea.

Meanwhile, Moyes hopes to name Dominic Calvert-Lewin in his match day squad for the first time since he tore a hamstring in February and, as an admirer of the Yorkshireman, will reportedly try and convince him to sign a new contract.

Calvert-Lewin’s current terms expire in June and he is free to hold talks with other clubs, although the concerning goal drought he experienced this season coupled with his injury record may limit his options and might even give Moyes pause.

“I think when we came in we've had 10 injuries, which has really worried me," Moyes explained. "We can't be bringing in players who are not going to reliable and not going to be available so it's hugely important to the decision-making."

Negotiations between the Blues and “DCL” had been on hold while Sean Dyche was in charge, with sources close to the situation suggesting that the two didn’t see eye-to-eye over tactics and the forward’s role in the very direct approach employed by the former gaffer.