Delap: England's Next No.9 After Kane?
The search for England’s next No.9 has been running in the background for years, a low hum behind Harry Kane’s relentless march through the record books. For a while, one name seemed to rise above the noise: Delap.
Built in the classic English centre-forward mould but schooled at Manchester City, Delap’s early steps looked perfectly scripted. He left City’s academy with big expectations strapped to his boots and announced himself in the Premier League at Ipswich, where his blend of power, movement and penalty-box instinct had people talking about him as the natural heir to “King Kane”.
Then came Chelsea. Then came the stall.
A £30 million move to Stamford Bridge was supposed to be the launchpad. Instead, it became a cautionary tale. Three goals in 47 appearances across all competitions, a FIFA Club World Cup winner’s medal that felt like a consolation prize, and a reputation that dimmed with every substitute cameo and misfiring start.
His stock dipped hard in west London. But not everywhere.
Nottingham Forest looked at the same player and saw opportunity, not damage. They made him their £50m record signing in the summer of 2026, a bold statement for a club still re-establishing itself among the elite. Forest were not buying the version that struggled at Chelsea; they were betting on the forward who once looked destined to chase down Kane’s shadow.
So far, the gamble has life.
Delap is already off the mark in Forest colours and, more importantly, he looks like himself again. Sharp. Aggressive. Willing to run channels, fight centre-backs and take shots early. The City Ground has given him what he lacked at Chelsea: rhythm, minutes, responsibility. For a striker, that combination often matters more than any price tag.
Regular game time on the banks of the Trent could be the difference between a career that flatlines and one that surges back towards the international stage. Every goalscorer runs on confidence and trust. Forest’s willingness to build around him might be exactly the environment he needs to rediscover that lost edge.
If the goals keep coming, the conversation will inevitably move from club to country.
Delap already has 12 caps at U21 level, a reminder of how highly he was once rated in the national setup. England, for all Kane’s dominance, are short of obvious successors. The captain, now 33 and still scoring freely, has pushed the bar to almost absurd levels. Eighty-five goals for his country and counting, a realistic shot at becoming an international centurion, and he is just four appearances away from matching Peter Shilton’s all-time caps record.
When he finally steps away from the Three Lions, the void will be enormous.
Right now, there is no clear, ready-made replacement. That’s the challenge and the fascination. Delap is in that chasing pack, alongside talents like 17-year-old Aston Villa prodigy Brian Madjo, trying to prove that life after Kane will not be a dramatic drop-off.
Former England striker Zamora, speaking to GOAL in association with BetWright Premier League betting, did not pretend the answer is obvious.
“I really don't know,” he admitted when asked who might one day take Kane’s shirt. “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 specifically, 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, in many ways, is the crux of Delap’s story right now. Can Forest be that “right sort of team”? Early signs suggest the fit is far better than the one he forced at Stamford Bridge. At the City Ground, he is not a luxury piece or a rotational option. He is a focal point.
For England, the clock is ticking in two directions at once. Kane is still rewriting records and shows little sign of slowing, yet every goal he scores only sharpens the question of what comes next. Someone will eventually have to wear that No.9 shirt and carry the weight of replacing the most prolific striker the country has ever seen.
Delap believes he can be that man. Forest are paying him like they do too. Now the only currency that matters is goals.
