Liam Delap has saved Chelsea from making risky signing that could have cost the club more than £70m

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Liam Delap’s move from Ipswich Town to Chelsea earlier this summer is starting to go under the radar a bit.

That is largely because of the impact Joao Pedro has made at the club. After Delap‘s purchase, Chelsea bought Pedro, who is also a centre-forward, and the 23-year-old played a huge role in their Club World Cup success.

He cost double the price of Delap, so naturally the spotlight is now on Chelsea‘s new Brazilian attacker.

However, Delap remains a terrific piece of business, especially considering the valuation of some other strikers right now.

• READ MORE: Enzo Fernandez and Liam Delap stunned by how good £25m Chelsea man was in Club World Cup final, ‘the best’

Liam Delap move has prevented Chelsea from overpaying for Benjamin Sesko

Before the Blues signed Delap, who cost them just £30m, they considered RB Leipzig’s Benjamin Sesko.

The Chelsea Chronicle was told Sesko was a player Chelsea really liked, but in the end the club opted for Delap instead.

It is thought that Chelsea see Delap and Sesko as similar forwards, resulting in them dropping their interest in the latter once they acquired the former.

That now looks like a brilliant decision amid Newcastle’s failed pursuit of the Slovenian. The Magpies recently had an €80m (£69m) offer for him turned down by Leipzig.

It means that if Sesko is sold during this transfer window, his next club could be looking at a fee of more than £70m to sign him.

Sesko is a quality striker with a very high ceiling, but there is not a £40m difference in quality between him and Delap right now. There was no guarantee that Sesko would have been a success either; paying all of that money for him would have been a massive gamble.

Liam Delap and Benjamin Sesko had very similar seasons

Delap was in a significantly worse team than Sesko last term, yet some of his numbers were very similar to the Slovenia international’s.

Delap scored one league goal fewer than Sesko in a stronger division, though he did play more minutes. Again, though, it reiterates the point that there is not a £40m difference between the two forwards right now.

Of course, it was a relegation release clause that helped Chelsea to get Delap on the cheap. Had Ipswich not gone down, you suspect that the 22-year-old would have cost a lot more. Whatever the case, Todd Boehly and co. can be happy with the business that they have done.

That deal for Delap has saved them from signing Sesko for a super-inflated fee, and they deserve a bit of credit for it.

Chelsea are often criticised for overpaying and overspending, so it should really work both ways.