Enzo Maresca calls Premier League striker a ‘fantastic player’ after Chelsea open talks to sign him

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Nicolas Jackson has made the central striker position his own at Chelsea this season.

There’s plenty of talented attackers in the Chelsea squad right now, but Nicolas Jackson is leading the line as the club’s main No 9. In 17 Premier League matches this season, he’s scored nine goals and created three assists.

However, there’s still some speculation in the transfer rumour mill about the Blues going after another centre-forward.

For instance, Chelsea have opened talks about signing Ipswich Town’s Liam Delap. The Blues have made contact about the 21-year-old Premier League striker as they try to gauge if a deal is possible in 2025.

• READ MORE: Chelsea fans compared Liam Delap to a former Blues striker earlier in the season

Enzo Maresca praises Chelsea target Liam Delap

During his press conference this week, Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca has spoken very highly about Ipswich centre-forward Liam Delap.

This comes at a time when the Blues are linked with the young English frontman. Also, he previously coached him for a year when he was with him in Manchester City’s academy.

Maresca said via Football.London: “Liam is a fantastic player. Also for his age, we spent one year together. I think in that season, he scored 22 or 24 goals.

“This is a very good striker – as I’ve said many times, England are quite lucky because they have very good players, very good strikers, and it is working hard off the ball, on the ball he understands the game and he can score goals. Because of his age, I think he can be an important player for England.”

Chelsea’s final game of 2024 is a trip to Portman Road to face Ipswich in the Premier League. Hopefully, Delap leaves his shooting boots at home for the upcoming fixture.

Would Liam Delap be a good signing for Chelsea?

If you look at Delap’s profile, he’s a traditional centre-forward with a huge future ahead of him. If he’s prepared to fight it out with Jackson at Chelsea for the starting position, he could be an excellent signing.

Despite playing in an Ipswich team in the thick of a relegation fight this year, Delap has more than held his own as an impressive Premier League striker. At the age of 21, he’s only going to get better with more experience at the top-flight level as well.

Manchester City won’t be trying to re-sign Delap even though they’ve got a buy-back clause. Therefore, it’ll be interesting to see if Chelsea push hard to sign the English striker from Ipswich next month.