The Nottingham Forest starting striker question is suddenly the most interesting call Oliver Glasner has to make. Twenty-four hours after the Reds broke their transfer record for Liam Delap, the head coach travels to Anfield with four senior centre-forwards, one shirt to give away and a side still waiting on its first goal of the season.
Delap, 23, has signed a five-year deal in a move the Guardian valued at £45m, with the Nottingham Post putting the potential total at £50m. A fee like that usually settles an argument. This one, if anything, has started a better version of it.
The case for Liam Delap
The strongest argument is the one Glasner has already made with the chequebook. Delap is the profile his 3-4-2-1 asks for: a front-foot No 9 who presses, runs channels and holds the line on his own rather than waiting in the six-yard box. He scored 12 Premier League goals in 37 games for a relegated Ipswich Town side in 2024/25, which remains one of the better individual seasons by a striker in a bad team.
The counter-argument is the year in between. As the Nottingham Post noted this week, Delap managed two goals in 41 appearances for Chelsea, one of them in a little over 1,100 Premier League minutes, with João Pedro preferred whenever fit. He has arrived to prove that was the aberration.
“I spoke to the manager and I like his way,” Delap said at his unveiling. “I think he can be the one to really help me develop and make that next step and hopefully I can bring goals here. I can’t wait to hear the noise at The City Ground.”
Igor Jesus has possession
Whatever the fee says, Igor Jesus started the season leading the line, and there is a reasonable case for leaving him there at Anfield. He is the forward who has actually done Glasner’s pressing work in competitive fixtures this month, and asking a striker who signed on Thursday to start away at Liverpool is a lot to ask of a player still learning the movements around him.
The honest caveat: Forest have not scored in either of their two home defeats to Leeds United, losing 0-1 in the league on 22 August and 0-2 in the EFL Cup three days later. Incumbency built on goalless football is not the firmest ground to stand on.
Chris Wood and the Kalimuendo wrinkle
Chris Wood is the most reliable finisher at the club and, having been among the players carrying knocks earlier this month, is closing in on full availability. He is also 34, and a fixture list that starts at Anfield is not obviously where you spend his legs.
Then there is Arnaud Kalimuendo, who Glasner has gone out of his way to keep. Signed from Rennes for an initial £26m last summer, the 24-year-old scored three times in pre-season and, as we reported this month, is staying put.
“In this system, he can play in three — and maybe even as wing-back if we need an attacking one — and maybe five positions,” Glasner said. “He’s very hard-working, good pace, good runs and always a goal threat. With these attributes, it would just be nonsense if we don’t rely on these attributes.”
The Nottingham Forest starting striker call at Anfield
The likeliest outcome on Saturday is the least dramatic one: Igor Jesus or Wood from the start, Delap introduced after the hour. Anfield, where the Reds have won on their last two visits, is a ground where Forest’s counter-attacking has worked precisely because they have been patient.
Longer term, though, this is Delap’s shirt. Clubs do not spend a record fee on a 23-year-old to have him warm up in the 65th minute, and Glasner drove the pursuit personally. The genuine luxury — and it is a novel one for a squad that lost Taiwo Awoniyi to Coventry City this month — is that Forest now have four ways to solve an afternoon rather than one.
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