Man City reject Southampton’s £20m Liam Delap transfer bid as they are only open to letting youngster leave on loan
SOUTHAMPTON have launched another raid on Manchester City by lodging a bid to sign young striker Liam Delap permanently.
But the champions have told Saints they are only willing to let the highly-rated 19-year-old forward move on loan for the season ahead.
Pep Guardiola has signed Erling Haaland and Julian Alvarez this summer so Delap is unlikely to feature regularly this season.
But he is well thought of at the Etihad and the club hierarchy want to see how he performs in regular first-team football before making a decision on his future.
So the offer – which could have reached £20million, of which £16m was to be paid up front – was thrown out.
Guardiola has previously hailed Delap as City‘s future.
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The Spaniard is keen for City’s future stars to train and play regularly with the first-team as he often feels there’s a disconnect.
He said: “Liam Delap for me, for the club, is so important for the future.
“At the end of last season, we said we had to extend the contract.
“He is going to train with us, if a striker comes or doesn’t come. He will train with us all season.
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“Him, Cole Palmer, James McAtee, Luke Mbete, Romeo Lavia. There are five or six guys who will be with us all season. The same process we have done with Tommy Doyle.
“It’s like Phil (Foden), when he arrived with us. (He) trained with us and played with the second team. It is the best way to help with their development.
“The problem with academies is the distance between their competition and the Premier League. It is too big.
“And it’s really difficult to promote them from here. That is why the best way for players we think have potential like Sam Edozie (he’s another guy) is for them to be with us.”
Southampton have already signed City youngsters Gavin Bazunu and Romeo Lavia for a combined fee of over £22m.