Hull City must resign themselves to Liam Delap fate amid Ipswich Town development: View | OneFootball

The Man City man is set to get his Premier League move, but it will be a big disappointment for the Tigers

Given recent developments, it would be completely fair to say that Hull City supporters are sick of the sight of Ipswich Town.

Not only have Kieran McKenna's Premier League newcomers been constantly linked with swoops for both Jacob Greaves and Jaden Philogene, with a deal for the pair looking likely, but a triple-whammy has since come the Tigers' way through the circulation which comes through social media across the summer transfer window.

New head coach Tim Walter was tasked with rebuilding a squad capable of bettering his predecessor, Liam Rosenior's attempt at making the Championship play-offs, which the 39-year-old fell three points short of in May, but the current landscape of the transfer market means that a barrage of deals must be completed between now and August 30th to give City the best possible chance of achieving those aims.

Unfortunately, it looks increasingly unlikely with each passing day that a fans' favourite from last season will not be part of those plans.

It was always going to be a tall order for Hull to re-capture former Manchester City loanee Liam Delap for a second successive campaign, no matter how much those ambitions were made public by the club hierarchy, including Acun Ilicali and his Chief Executive, Tan Kesler.

Initially, it was reported that a £10m fee would be required to prize the 21-year-old away from the Etihad, before both Southampton - who can boast significantly stronger financial muscle than the East Yorkshire club - saw their name feature alongside the striker in rumours.

Aside from the financial ramifications of a move to St Mary's and the Premier League - Delap's father, Rory, also donned the Red and White between 2001 and 2006 - with Delap junior also previously featuring for another of his former clubs, Stoke City, earlier on in his career.

Russell Martin's outfit have constantly been linked with a pursuit for the England under-21 international, which hasn't shown any signs of slowing down, although Ipswich will now have something to say about that, after the striker was spotted in a Car Park at Portman Road last weekend.

And in a new development, the Suffolk outfit are poised to land the services of Delap, with a £15 million deal that could rise to £20 million agreed with the Premier League champions for the striker's services, according to The Athletic's David Ornstein.

Delap would be no stranger to Tractor Boys' supporters, having netted against them in a thrilling 3-3 draw on April 27th with a real poacher's finish past Vaclav Hladky.

Given his development in the second tier throughout a trio of loan spells with Preston North End alongside Stoke and Hull, much will be made as to whether the highly-rated forward is capable of solidifying a place in a top flight side, with his only previous experience being two appearances under Pep Guardiola.

However, a move to East Anglia would only prove McKenna's ideology upon promotion, which has seen them already finalise a £22m move for Omari Hutchinson, as the former Chelsea man excelled in Blue and White last season.

Hull City actively seeking to soften Liam Delap blow

Delap was one of an abundance of young talents who prospered under Rosenior, and with Walter preferring a more aggressive philosophy on a similar system, it's clear why there was such desperation and clamour for the club to seek another temporary move for the centre-forward.

The Winchester-born man scored eight times in 31 appearances - a figure which doesn't tell the full story amid the sustaining of a knee problem in January - with Delap's highlight reel from his time at the MKM Stadium showing a great variety of finishes, movement, link-up play and versatility after drifting out to the right wing on occasions earlier in the season.

There's no secret that, regardless of whether they were successful in re-recruiting their loan star or not, the attacking department at Walter's disposal needs significant surgery after the likes of Aaron Connolly, Billy Sharp and Noah Ohio also departed at last season's conclusion.

Furthermore, City's hopes of completing a double-salvo for their highly-rated loan duo was dashed further when Ohio - the scorer of three vital goals against Rotherham, Coventry and Ipswich - confirmed his exit from Standard Liege, only to join Eredivisie outfit FC Utrecht.

Links to Zan Celar and Jay Stansfield have both surfaced since the opening of the window on June 14th, with City currently working on confirming the signing of a striker - which currently isn't the Slovenian - ahead of their first pre-season fixture which takes place in Turkey this weekend.

However, it's clear that this won't be Delap as the aforementioned Premier League duo continued to battle it out in their own transfer saga, with City now reisnged to focus on many other transfer targets as Delap, like Philogene and Greaves, has his heart set on a move to Suffolk.