Fans fear attacker will choose England over Ireland with €35m deal agreed
Fans fear Liam Delap will opt for England over Ireland, with the attacker seemingly on the verge of joining Chelsea in a €35million move. The forward scored 12 goals for Ipswich in the Premier League this season.
Delap's father Rory played for the Boys in Green 11 times and also represented Ireland at U21 level. However, his son is heading to Slovakia next month to represent England's Under-21s at the European Championship, but he is still eligible to play for Ireland.
Heimir Hallgrímsson has met with the attacker and hasn't given up hope that he might one day play for Ireland despite the fact he has represented England at every age group except the senior side, unlike Jack Grealish and Declan Rice, who represented Ireland at various levels before switching to England.
Asked if he had spoken with the 22-year-old, the Ireland manager said this week: 'We have sat with him, yeah, just told him we would love to have him in our camp.
'But, like I said, the focus is on the [England] Under-21s.'
When asked if the former Manchester City youth player showed any interest in a switch, Hallgrímsson replied: 'Well he didn't say f**k off!'
However, Ireland fans believe it is very unlikely that the forward will switch international allegiance to play for the Boys in Green.
One wrote online: "He won't play for us. HH just doing his job to get him in. Worth a try."
Another commented: "I'm sure Liam met him out of respect since his dad played for Ireland , ain't no way he's making the choice to play for Ireland while he has any chance of playing for England senior team."
Someone else said: "In the immortal words of the legendary Johnny Giles, 'any young lad worth his salt who was born and raised in England will want to play for England'."
"I think the die is cast here. Fair play to Delap he hasn't used the Irish age grades to make his way upwards. He's had a consistent position, good luck to him for the future," read another comment.
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