Liam Delap and James McAtee spent five years in the same Manchester City age groups, and the first thing Nottingham Forest’s record signing wanted to talk about was getting the band back together. Delap completed his move from Chelsea on Thursday, and in his first interview as a Forest player the 23-year-old went straight to the team-mate he already knows best.
What Delap said about the McAtee reunion
“Macca is one of my best mates and I think we played really well together when we were younger, so I can’t wait to be on the pitch with him once more,” Delap said in his first interview since the transfer, in comments reported by the Nottingham Post.
“I’ve spent a lot of time with Macca and it’s really helpful when you know people, and I had the year with Omari as well. I think those connections will definitely help with settling in.”
That is a striker being honest about the least glamorous part of a club-record transfer. Delap has arrived Trentside off the back of a bruising 12 months at Stamford Bridge, and the quickest route out of a spell like that is a dressing room where he does not have to introduce himself.
The numbers behind the Liam Delap James McAtee link
The pair are not simply old academy acquaintances. Per the Post’s breakdown of their careers, McAtee has created more goals for Delap than any other player he has played alongside, and Cole Palmer is the only team-mate Delap has shared a pitch with more often — a total of 61 games that McAtee, one behind, will pass within weeks.
McAtee, who arrived at the City Ground from Manchester City last summer, is the closest thing Oliver Glasner has to a natural inside-forward in the 3-4-2-1 he has installed. Feeding a front-runner who attacks the channels is the specific job that shape asks of him, and he has just been handed the run of games he needed. A striker who instinctively knows where his passes are going is not a small upgrade.
Omari Hutchinson makes it three. He and Delap spent 2024/25 together at Ipswich Town, the season Delap has described as the happiest of his football life and the one that persuaded Chelsea to sign him. Two of the attackers Glasner can pick behind or alongside his new No 9 have already played a full season with him.
Why Glasner was the clincher
For all the familiar faces, Delap was clear that the head coach settled it.
“I spoke with the head coach and I really like his way. I think he can be the one to really help me develop and get to that next step,” he said. “The way he wants to play and how he spoke about how he can develop me as a player, that’s one of the main reasons I came.”
He has signed a five-year deal in a move the Guardian valued at £45m, with the Post putting the potential total nearer £50m — either way, the most expensive player in Forest’s history.
What it means at Anfield
Glasner takes his squad to Liverpool on Saturday sitting 15th and still hunting a first goal of the season, after a 0-1 home defeat to Leeds United and a 0-2 EFL Cup exit to the same opponents three days later. Morgan Gibbs-White remains a doubt with a knee problem, which sharpens the case for leaning on a relationship that needs no bedding-in period.
Whether Delap starts is Glasner’s call, and there is a reasonable argument for easing a player who signed on Thursday into a trip to Anfield — a debate we weighed up in our look at Forest’s starting striker options. What is not in doubt is that the Reds have not bought a No 9 who will spend a month learning names. Delap already knows two of the players most likely to be supplying him — and, as he put it himself, he cannot wait to hear the noise.
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