Stoke City make major transfer breakthrough ahead of Sunderland visit - but have some big injury absences
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Delap, the son of former Stoke and Sunderland player Rory, has joined on loan from Manchester City to the disappointment of a number of other Championship clubs who had hoped to win the race for his signature.
"It’s no secret that we have been looking to bring Liam to the Club this summer," manager Michael O'Neill said.
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Hide Ad"We have been in dialogue with City for some time now and had the opportunity a few weeks ago to outline our plans for Liam," he said.
“We are grateful to them for the trust they have placed in us and we are really excited about working with Liam.”
Stoke are set to be without Nick Powell, Josh Tymon, Josh Laurent, Harry Clarke and Harry Souttar for the game.
And though he did start the 2-2 draw with Middlesbrough on Wednesday night, striker Dwight Gayle did not complete 90 minutes as he manages a hamstring issue.
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Hide AdFormer Oxford United winger Tariqe Fosu, on loan from Brentford, is likely to deputise on Saturday afternoon.
"Tymon will be out for four to six weeks. Laurent will be out for six to eight weeks. Powell will hopefully be back in two to three weeks. Harry Souttar will probably be out until October. Harry Clarke will be six weeks.
"Tymon has ligament damage in his ankle, as does Laurent. They are both in boots at this minute in time. That's the time frame medically we've been given for them to come back.
"Tymon actually did it in the Blackpool game, which is why we kept him out of the Morecambe game. It settled down during the week but he aggravated it again in the game at Huddersfield."
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Hide AdSunderland have a troubling injury list of their own, particularly with Dan Neil missing out due to a one-game suspension.
Corry Evans, Danny Batth and Leon Dajaku are at this stage injury doubts, while Dan Ballard and Carl Winchester will be missing.
Stoke have taken one less point than Sunderland from their four fixtures so far.