Liam Delap: England's Next No.9?

The search for England’s next No.9 has been running for years in the background, a quiet drumbeat behind Harry Kane’s relentless scoring. For a while, Liam Delap looked perfectly cast for the role.

Breaking out of Manchester City’s academy and then announcing himself in the Premier League with Ipswich, the powerful forward was quickly tagged as a natural heir to “King Kane”. He had the frame, the aggression, the penalty-box instincts. The path seemed mapped out.

Then came Chelsea.

A £30 million move to Stamford Bridge was supposed to launch him into the elite. Instead, it stalled him. Three goals in 47 games across all competitions, a FIFA Club World Cup winner’s medal in his pocket but his reputation badly dented. The numbers never matched the early noise. The swagger faded.

Chelsea moved on. So did Delap – eventually.

Forest’s gamble on a bruised talent

Nottingham Forest saw something others had started to doubt. In the summer of 2026 they pushed £50m across the table, making Delap their record signing and betting that his story had not already peaked.

Early signs say they might be right. Delap is already off the mark for Forest and has brought a snarl and energy to their front line at the City Ground. He looks like a striker playing with a point to prove, not one weighed down by what went wrong in west London.

What he needed was simple: minutes, trust, and a manager prepared to live with the rough edges while the confidence returns. Regular game time on the banks of the Trent offers exactly that. For any goalscorer, belief is oxygen. Forest are giving him room to breathe again.

If the goals start to flow, the conversation changes quickly. Delap, capped 12 times at U21 level, would move from “what happened to him?” to “when does he get a senior call-up?” in the space of a few months. England’s need is that acute.

A nation still leaning on Kane

Kane, at 33 and still churning out goals, has dragged England’s scoring records into new territory. Eighty-five goals already, with three figures and international centurion status in sight. Four more caps and he stands alongside Peter Shilton at the top of the all-time appearance list.

He is not just a benchmark. He is a problem for his successors. How do you follow that?

Right now, there is no obvious answer. The talent pool is not empty, but there is no like-for-like replacement waiting patiently in the wings. Delap is in that chasing pack, as is 17-year-old Aston Villa prodigy Brian Madjo, both trying to show that life after Kane will not be a step into the dark.

Former England striker Bobby Zamora, speaking to GOAL in association with BetWright Premier League betting, did not pretend otherwise when asked who he sees inheriting the No.9 shirt.

“I really don't know,” he admitted. “Harry Kane is extremely, extremely special. There aren't many of him and to try and fill his boots, is firstly going to be a very, very tall task. I don't know who that person is that's going to come in.”

Pressed on Delap, Zamora’s intrigue was clear.

“Potentially Dalap. I'm interested to see how he takes the knock of the Chelsea situation. I actually thought he was going to be something really special. He's taken a little bit of a knock and I'm interested to see how he copes with that from the trajectory that he was on, aiming for the stars, taking a blip with injuries and inconsistencies and not as many goals as he probably would have liked at Chelsea. But yeah, he's potentially one.

“I think he needs to fit into the right sort of team. He has to fit into the right sort of team, but Harry's a very hard one to follow.”

That line cuts to the heart of Delap’s career. The right team, the right environment, the right role. Forest believe they can be that.

Can Delap step into the void?

Kane will eventually walk away from the international stage, leaving a crater at the heart of England’s attack. Goals, leadership, presence – all gone in one moment. The question is not whether that void will exist. It’s who dares to step into it.

Delap wants that responsibility. Forest offer him a platform to show he can handle it, that the bruises from Chelsea were just that – bruises, not scars. If he turns potential back into production in the Premier League, the debate around England’s future No.9 will sound very different.

For now, Kane keeps scoring, the records keep tumbling, and the clock keeps ticking.

Somewhere behind him, at the City Ground, a striker once tipped for the throne is trying to make sure that when the crown finally comes loose, his name is still in the conversation.