Derby County have been dealt a blow to their hopes of bringing Liam Delap to Pride Park this summer.

What's the talk?

That's according to a claim made by Richard Crawley, with the South London Press journalist revealing on Twitter that Manchester City are not going to loan the centre-forward out ahead of next season, as Pep Guardiola would like the 18-year-old to join up with his first-team squad.

It had been previously reported that Derby were one of a number of Championship clubs interested in signing the England U19 international this summer, however, any sort of deal for Delap now appears to be dead in the water.

Rooney will be gutted

Considering just how badly Derby struggled for goals last season, with the Rams bagging a league-low 36 strikes in 2020/21, coupled with how prolific Delap was for Manchester City's U23 side last term, the fact a deal to bring the striker to Pride Park this summer now appears to be off is sure to have left Wayne Rooney gutted.

Indeed, over his 20 Premier League 2 appearances for City's U23s last season, the £900k-rated man scored 24 goals and provided five assists for his teammates, with his performances helping his team win the Premier League 2 title, as well as winning the league's Player of the Season award.

The £5k-per-week centre-forward also scored two goals in the FA Youth Cup, as well as three goals and one assist in the EFL Trophy, taking his total haul to 30 goals and six assists in 2020/21.

As such, the fact that the man Jacek Kulig dubbed a "phenomenal" forward will not be linking up with Rooney at Derby this summer will come as a big blow to the 35-year-old, who will now have turn his focus elsewhere in the transfer market in a bid to provide the Rams with more firepower ahead of next season.

In other news: Derby close in on deal for "fantastic" £1.35m-rated beast, Rooney will be delighted