How delap became Manchester United's top attacking target

Manchester United used to set the benchmark for great strikers. Wayne Rooney, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Eric Cantona, Andy Cole, Dwight Yorke, Robin van Persie -- it's a long list of formidable goal scorers, but one that is now a fading memory obscured by a succession of expensive misfits who have tried and failed to join that elite list in recent years.
At 22, it would be a big challenge for Liam Delap to prove himself a worthy successor to some of Old Trafford's most iconic center forwards, but the Ipswich Town striker is the club's favored summer target because he has the potential to do so.
Sources have it that United have placed Delap, who could be available for a transfer fee of £40 million if Ipswich are relegated this summer, ahead of Sporting CP's Viktor Gyökeres, RB Leipzig's Benjamin Sesko and Victor Osimhen, who is on loan at Galatasaray from Napoli, in their list of potential attacking reinforcements.
In his first full campaign in the Premier League this season, Delap has scored 12 goals in 30 appearances for an Ipswich team playing in the top flight for the first time since 2002. He has shown pace, physical presence and the ability to lead the attacking line, and Kieran McKenna's team has also benefited from Delap being able to hold the ball up and provide a platform for Ipswich's midfielders and wingers, as well as displaying the alternative skill set of turning his marker and creating his own efforts on goal.
Delap's attributes bear similarities to those of a young Alan Shearer, who remains the Premier League's leading career goal scorer with 260 for Blackburn and Newcastle. And, with United and Chelsea now emerging as rivals for Delap's signature this summer, Shearer said last week that the former Manchester City youngster has what it takes to make it to the top.