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.
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