Chelsea coach Enzo Maresca said on Sunday that he is convinced that the new signing Liam Delap will be the number nine of England after Harry Kane.
Bayern Munich Spits Kane, 31, has led the line for England for most of the past decade, but Delap shows a great potential, so that Chelsea collected him earlier this month for £ 30 million from the relegated city of Ipswich.
“I have no doubt that in the future he can be nine in the number of England,” the coach of Chelsea said on the eve of their club World Cup -opener to Los Angeles FC, when he was asked if Delap could follow up.
Maresca would not confirm whether the 22-year-old attacker will start on Monday at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, but said that Delap did not show nerves after taking the nine shirt from the blues.
In recent years, Chelsea has drawn several controversial strikers that have struggled in the club, including Fernando Torres, Romelu Lukaku and Alvaro Morata.
“Liam knows very well how important the number nine is for this club … I see him quite relaxed, easy, he is doing well, he has been working well since he arrived,” said Maresca.
The Italian previously coached Delap in the Manchester City team and said that the link between them would be more beneficial.
“We know each other from years ago, so I know what Liam can give us, he knows what we can give him to improve a better player and to become a better player,” explains Maresca.
“He wanted to come to us because he knows how we play, the season we were together … He scored 24 goals.
“We love Liam, Liam likes us, so it was an easy conversation.”
The coach said he had not promised Delap that he would start Nicolas Jackson.
“I never tell a player that you (will) 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 can be),” he added.
Maresca said that later in the summer, Chelsea was interested in signing a left wing to replace Jadon Sancho, whose loan will not be made permanently, but for the time being were aimed at the club World Cup and first opponents Lafc.
“I never have trust, I don't know if it's something good or something bad, but I think that a game can be difficult today because of the technology,” he said.
“They can watch a lot of games about us, we can watch a lot of games about them, so every game becomes very complicated.”