Liam Delap's release clause now active as Chelsea plot summer transfer swoop

Ipswich Town's relegation from the Premier League has been confirmed this afternoon, meaning Chelsea target Liam Delap's release clause has come into effect.

are expected to get stuck into the transfer market around their participation in this summer's FIFA Club World Cup with the possibility of signing another No.9 to provide competition to Nicolas Jackson.

, having scored 12 Premier League goals in his breakout campaign, and now with Ipswich's relegation back to the Championship confirmed, he will be available at a reduced cost.

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Kieran McKenna's side were subject to a 3-0 defeat to Newcastle United on Saturday afternoon, leaving them stranded 15 points from safety with four matches to go. As football.london reported earlier this month, if they had stayed in the division.

Delap is expected to not be short of suitors in the upcoming transfer window with Manchester United, Newcastle and Liverpool prominently named alongside Chelsea.

A number of others remain unspecified whilst his boyhood club Manchester City hold the advantage over others if they opt for a move.

The Etihad Stadium club agreed a £40m buy-back clause when the 22-year-old moved to Portman Road last year, or if he moves elsewhere they will take 20 percent of the total fee.

"As I've said before, I think there's certainly a possibility that he's an Ipswich player next year. I don't think anything's decided in anyone's mind.

"But could Liam play for the biggest clubs in the country, the biggest clubs in the world? He certainly can. I fully believe that," Delap's manager McKenna admitted not long ago.

"He's already shown the impact he can have at Premier League level in a team that have really been fighting for everything. I think he can have an outstanding impact at this level."

However, it was warned: "But he's also very young and he's playing his first season of Premier League football.

"He's not played a huge amount of minutes as a leading striker in a team before, and with it he's still learning and getting better all the time.

"What's right for Liam? What's right for Ipswich? All those factors will come into play in the summer and the right decision will be made. But he's happy and he's developing really well here.

"He has the potential. I think he will, in his career, go on to do some really, really good things."