Delap backed to replace Kane as Maresca shares true feelings on £30m signing

Chelsea completed a £30m deal to sign Liam Delap from Ipswich earlier this summer and Blues boss Enzo Maresca has tipped the striker for big things during his time at Stamford Bridge

Enzo Maresca says Liam Delap can become England’s next No9. Maresca insists his new £30m signing has got all the attributes to succeed Harry Kane as England’s first choice centre forward.

Chelsea boss Maresca worked with Delap while an academy coach at Manchester City and that was a major factor in why they were able to persuade him to move to Stamford Bridge from Ipswich this summer.

Maresca said: “When we faced Ipswich, before we faced Ipswich, so Liam was not a Chelsea player, I said that for me, Liam, potentially he can be England number nine.

“So he was not even with us. And for sure now that he's with us, I'm going to say again that I don't have any doubt that he can be in the future England number nine. And then the other one, we'll see.

“Liam knows quite well how important the number nine is for this club. Personally I don't see any problem about that in terms of, I see Liam quite relaxed, easy, he's doing well, since he arrived he's working well.

“We know each other 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. And again in terms of number nine, hopefully he can score goals for us.”

Delap, 22, has represented England at under-21 level but went with Chelsea to the Club World Cup rather than to the European Championships and is set to play against Los Angeles FC in Atlanta.

But despite their close relationship, Maresca insisted that he did not give Delap any guarantees over his starting place as the prepares to battle it out with Nicolas Jackson next season.

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Maresca added: “I never say to a player you want to be a first choice. The message is always the same, you arrive, you work hard, you work more than the other number nine and you want to be a number nine first choice.

“So the conversation with Liam has been quite clear. He was keen to join us because he knows the way we play, the season that we were together.

“Also we won for the first time for Manchester City the under-23 competition, he scored 24, 25 goals that season. So he knows exactly what we can give him, and as I said before, I know what Liam can give us.

“So I think it's a win-win and the conversation was quite an easy conversation. We like Liam, Liam likes us, so it was an easy conversation.”