Chelsea, Man Utd & Man City sent warning over Liam Delap transfer plans | OneFootball

Ipswich Town chairman Mark Ashton has warned suitors of striker Liam Delap that the Tractor Boys will not be "an easy club to deal with" this summer.

Delap, 22, has impressed for Ipswich in the Premier League this season, racking up ten goals and attracting interest from the likes of Chelsea and Manchester United, who are both drawing up lengthy striker shortlists ahead of what appears set to be a hectic summer.

Potentially complicating things is a buy-back clause understood to be held by former employers Manchester City, who have been tipped to re-sign their former academy gem for around £40m.

Ashton, however, downplayed any concerns about losing Delap this summer and even went as far as to suggest the details of City's buy-back clause have been misreported.

"What I would say is that what's been reported is never quite fact," Ashton told the East Anglian Daily Times.

Ipswich are determined to command a huge fee to sell Delap / James Gill - Danehouse/GettyImages

"It would be remiss of me to speak about any individual player, you know I'm going to say that. What I can say is that in January there were was interest in a number of our players from a number of Premier League clubs. But ownership were great. It was, 'You don't have to sell'.

"So look, we're not an easy club to buy from, because we have such strong ownership. Obviously there is always natural point in time when a player has to move. That's the cycle of life, it's the cycle of football. But we are very, very, very well protected with all of that."

Pressed to confirm the existence of a buy-back clause for City, Ashton held firm.

"No," said the Ipswich chief as he stressed players would only be sold on the club's terms. "Look, it would be remiss of me to do that. I would actually be in breach of contract for talking in any kind of detail.

"All I would say to the fans is that hopefully an element of trust has been built with us since we took over. We know what we're doing and we're well, well protected."