Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca says he has no doubt new striker Liam Delap will become a “future England number nine” as he prepares to make his Blues debut at the Club World Cup.
The 22-year-old forward joined in a £30m deal from Ipswich earlier in June to reunite with his former Manchester City academy manager.
Delap, who signed a six-year contract at Stamford Bridge, scored 12 goals in 37 Premier League appearances last term.
Chelsea face Los Angeles FC in their Club World Cup opener on Monday (20:00 BST) in Atlanta.
When asked about Delap, who pulled out of England duty for the European Under-21 Championship to join Chelsea in the United States, Maresca said: “I said Liam can be England’s number nine when we faced Ipswich.
“Now he is a Chelsea player, I’m going to say again, I don’t have any doubt that he can be in the future England number nine.
“We won with Manchester City’s Under-23s – he scored 24, 25 goals that season – so he knows exactly what we can give him, I know what Liam can give us. It’s a win-win. We like Liam, Liam likes us, so it was an easy conversation.”
Delap is among four new players in Chelsea’s squad, along with returning loanee Andrey Santos and new teenage signings Dario Essugo, Mamadou Sarr and Mike Penders.
But Maresca explained Delap will have to compete with fellow striker Nicolas Jackson to earn a starting place and refused to say whether he will start at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
He also explained, without directly being asked about it, that the club needs a new left winger after Chelsea paid a £5m penalty fee not to sign Manchester United loanee Jadon Sancho, adding: “Jadon is not with us. So for sure that is a position that probably we need to do something.
“Also because, Misha [Mudryk] is not with us. At this moment we have Noni [Madueke], Pedro [Neto] and Ty [George] as proper wingers. So for sure something is going to happen.”
The Blues are expected to rekindle their interest in Dortmund winger Jamie Gittens as the transfer window re-opens on Monday, having had a £42m bid rejected for the 20-year-old just before the Club World Cup.
They also made an approach for AC Milan goalkeeper Mike Maignan, but Maresca insists he still has faith in the likes of Robert Sanchez. He explained: “Robert is the number one, we have Filip as number two.
“Penders joins us in the next few weeks to analyse, judge him and take a final decision. Then for Maignan or different players, I don’t think it’s worth talking about them.”
