Enzo Maresca has backed Liam Delap to handle the pressure of leading the line for Chelsea and is adamant that the striker will become England’s next No 9.
Delap is eager to make a strong first impression following his £30m move from Ipswich Town and will hope to make his Chelsea debut when the Premier League side open their Club World Cup campaign by facing Major League Soccer’s Los Angeles FC in Atlanta on Monday.
The 22-year-old, who was unable to keep Ipswich in the top flight despite scoring 12 goals last season, is competing with Nicolas Jackson for a starting spot in attack and does not seem overawed by his new surroundings. It is encouraging that Delap has paid little attention to claims of a curse befalling Chelsea’s No 9 shirt, which has been vacant since Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang left the club two years ago.
The England Under-21 international has jumped at the chance to make the shirt his own, even though Romelu Lukaku and Fernando Torres are examples of expensive No 9s who flopped at Chelsea. Delap is keen to make his mark and add more ruthlessness to an attack that has suffered from wasteful finishing in recent years.
“Liam knows quite well how important the number nine is for this club,” Maresca said. “I don’t see any problem. I see Liam quite relaxed, easy, he’s doing well, since he arrived he’s working well. We know each other already from years ago, so I know what Liam can give us. He knows what we can give to him to improve and to become a better player. In terms of No 9, hopefully he can score goals for us.”
Maresca coached Delap when he was part of Manchester City’s academy. That connection proved handy when it came to convincing Delap to sign a six-year deal with Chelsea and snub offers from Manchester United, Newcastle and Nottingham Forest. However Maresca has not decided if the former Ipswich forward is above Jackson in the pecking order.
“The message is always the same – you arrive, you work hard, you work more than the other No 9,” the Italian said. “The conversation with Liam has been quite clear. He was keen to join us because he knows the way we play. We won for the first time for City the Under-23 competition – he scored 24, 25 goals that season.
“He knows exactly what we can give him, to him and I know what Liam can give us. The conversation was quite easy. We like Liam, Liam like us. I don’t have any doubt that he can be in the future England No 9.”
Maresca said that Chelsea intend to sign another winger after sending Jadon Sancho back to Manchester United. The west Londoners are interested in Borussia Dortmund’s Jamie Gittens.
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Chelsea have added Delap, Andrey Santos, Mamadou Sarr, Mike Penders and Dario Essugo to their squad since qualifying for the Champions League and winning the Uefa Conference League last month. They have been busy in the transfer market but Maresca refused to reveal whether they will revive a move for the Milan goalkeeper Mike Maignan.
The attempt to sign Maignan has caused uncertainty over Chelsea’s goalkeeping situation. There have been indications that the club will listen to suitable offers for Robert Sanchez and Filip Jorgensen. Djordje Petrovic has asked to be omitted for the squad and is likely to leave after impressing on loan at Strasbourg. However, Maresca insisted that Sanchez remains first choice.
“The situation about the keepers is quite easy,” he said. “Robert is the number one. Then we have Filip, the number two. Penders joined us. We’re going to see in the next weeks. We have time to analyse and to judge him.”
