If we look back to the 2024/25 season, Delap led the scoring for the Tractor Boys with 12 goals (plus two assists) in the Premier League, and it was that type of form in front of goal that saw the Blues acquire his services in the summer of 2025 for £30m.
Delap left Chelsea after just one year
At the time, the player was quoted as saying: "I understand the stature of this club and can see the trajectory it is on with these players and the head coach. It’s going to be an incredible place for me to develop, and I hope to achieve amazing things here and help the club win more trophies."
So confident was the striker in his own abilities that he'd signed on with the Chelsea outfit until 2031.
Delap would go on to make 47 appearances in all competitions for the west London outfit in the 2025/26 campaign; however, a return of just three goals - one in the Premier League, one in the Club World Cup and one in the Champions League - was never going to be enough to see him as the long-term solution for leading the line at Stamford Bridge.
Despite such a poor return, Nottingham Forest paid a club record £50 million for the 23-year-old striker just one year after Delap's sojourn in the English capital.
One goal before Man City game
Until the Tricky Trees faced Manchester City in the most recent set of fixtures, the player hadn't begun to pay back even a small portion of that fee.
One goal scored, against Aston Villa in week four, was all that he had to show for his efforts, and with Forest struggling badly as a collective, it reflected even worse on Delap.
Against City, however, he finally produced a performance that Oliver Glasner knew he was capable of, scoring twice, and it will be interesting to see if he can now move forward with the confidence he had whilst at Portman Road restored.
Both of his goals were the hallmark of a striker in his element, and coming against one of the form teams in the division, they couldn't have been better timed.
That they helped to secure Forest's first home win of the season, too, was an added bonus, and it earned him his best Flashscore rating of the season so far at 8.2.
Delap's overall game needs attention
Whilst the brace will give Delap cause for celebration, there's an awful lot more that he needs to do to justify Forest's epic spend.
For example, his shot accuracy of 60.38% from his final season at Ipswich has plummeted to just 25% currently.
Although his conversion rate of 11.11% is also way down, it's a significant improvement on an appalling 2.78% during his time with the Blues.
Almost half of the total of 115 shots that he's had since 24/25 came with Ipswich, and his output is fairly evenly spread: 57 on target and 58 off target.
An old-school type of centre-forward, Delap should really master the use of his physical attributes in order to dominate his opponent.
Just six headers on target from only 22 in total during the past three seasons is an awful waste of his aerial abilities.
In order to get the best out of any player, particularly a striker with a reasonable presence in front of goal, teams have to play to their strengths, so Delap could perhaps argue that service into him hasn't been the best, notwithstanding that he's not covered himself in glory in other aspects.
Passing-wise, his best return of 82.35% came in Chelsea's 25/26 Carabao Cup run, though more generally, a 61.22% showing in this season's Premier League is a better representation of his output.
Plenty of time to prove people wrong
The one area where Delap would be expected to excel is with one-on-one duels, both on the ground and aerially, but here too, he has fallen woefully short.
His best return again came in the 2025/26 Premier League season, and was just 39.07%. At Forest, he has a 37.76% success rate, losing 61 of the 98 duels to date.
Aerially, in 26/27, he's contested 33 duels, but won just 11 of them. Only in Ipswich's cup runs from 24/25 does Delap have a positive balance in terms of aerial duel success, but even then, he only attempted four in total, winning three. Hardly anything to write home about.
For a player who was being talked up as a potential rotation option for the English national team not so long ago, Delap has an awful lot of work to do in order to ascend to those heights once more.
If he can tap into his mindset from the City game, however, there's still plenty of time for him to prove a few people wrong.