‘Excited’ Cole Palmer reacts to Liam Delap joining Chelsea as he makes bold claim

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Cole Palmer will be one of several familiar faces at Chelsea next season for new signing Liam Delap.

The Blues have made a really positive start to the summer transfer window by already confirming that Liam Delap, 22, has joined them from Ipswich Town.

Like the majority of Chelsea players, Delap has penned a long-term deal at Stamford Bridge, with his contract expiring in 2031.

It will please supporters to see that Delap has taken Chelsea’s No.9 shirt, which signals real intent that he’s coming to try and establish himself as the first-choice striker. There is no doubt that he’s making a considerable step up from Ipswich, though.

• READ MORE: Jamie O’Hara and Jason Cundy completely disagree on one thing after Chelsea confirm Liam Delap signing

Cole Palmer thinks Liam Delap is already one of the Premier League’s best strikers

Cole Palmer knows from first-hand experience that Delap has all the qualities of a top-class striker. They previously played together in Manchester City’s academy alongside Blues midfielder Romeo Lavia, where they were all coached by Enzo Maresca.

After the announcement of Delap’s signing, Palmer made the bold claim his new Chelsea teammate is already one of the best centre-forwards in the Premier League.

When discussing Chelsea signing Delap, Palmer said via The Sun: “I’m excited to play with him. I was messaging him asking if he was coming and that. I played with him at Under 18s, 21s. We went to the first team together.

“He’s a great striker, one of the best in the Premier League. You can see from last season. So I think he’ll help us a lot and hopefully score lots of goals.”

Chelsea fans can’t wait for the Delap and Palmer link-up because they’re predicting big things in attack next season.

In fairness, we’ve seen Palmer and Blues striker Nicolas Jackson combine well together across the last two seasons. If you’re a modern-day frontman, it must be a dream to have Palmer as a supply line behind you with his vision and creativity.

Palmer and Delap have a phenomenal record together from playing in Man City’s and England’s youth teams. Can they now replicate that level of success in Chelsea’s first team?

How Liam Delap compares to the Premier League’s best strikers

Delap managed 12 Premier League goals last term for Ipswich during his first full season in the top division. However, there are other strikers across the league that have been scoring goals for fun for a long time.

We’ve taken a look at how Delap’s record in the top flight compares to some of the league’s established No.9s.

It highlights that Delap is still very much in the infancy of his career at the top level, so he may require a little bit of patience from supporters to begin with.