Chelsea completed a £ 30 million deal to sign Liam Delap from Ipswich earlier this summer and Bluesbaas Enzo Maresca tipped the striker for great things during his time at Stamford Bridge
Enzo Maresca says that Liam Delap can be the next NO9 of England. Maresca insists that his new £ 30 million signing has received all attributes to succeed Harry Kane as the first selection center of England.
Chelsea boss Maresca worked with Delap while an academic coach in Manchester City and that was an important factor why they could convince him to move to Stamford Bridge from Ipswich this summer.
Maresca said: “When we met Ippswich before we met Ipswich, so Liam was not a Chelsea player, I said he can be a potential England number nine for me, Liam, potentially England.
“So he wasn't even with us. And now for sure that he is with us, I will say again that I have no doubt that he can be number nine in England in the future. And then the other, we will see.
“Liam knows very well how important the number nine is for this club. Personally, I see no problem about that in terms of, I see Liam quite relaxed, easy, he is doing well since he arrived, he works well.
“We know each other from years ago, so I know what Liam can give us, he knows what we can give him to improve and become a better player. And again in terms of number nine, hopefully he can score goals for us.”
Delap, 22, has represented England at the age of 21, but went with Chelsea to the club World Cup instead of the European Championships and plays against Los Angeles FC in Atlanta.
But despite their close relationship, Maresca insisted that he did not give Delap guarantees about his starting place, while the preparations to fight Nicolas Jackson next season.
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Maresca added: “I never tell a player that 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 a number nine first choice.
“So the conversation with Liam was pretty clear. He wanted to come to us because he knows how we play, the season we were together.
“We also won for the first time for Manchester City, the competition under 23, he scored that season 24, 25 goals. 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 a fairly simple conversation. We love Liam, Liam likes us, so it was an easy conversation.”