Enzo Maresca believes Liam Delap has the potential to develop into England’s principal striker, however warned the 22-year-old he faces a struggle to get into the Chelsea line-up first.
Delap might make his Blues debut towards LAFC in Monday’s FIFA Membership World Cup opener in Atlanta after completing a £30 million move from Ipswich Town earlier this month.
Chelsea beat out competitors from various golf equipment together with Manchester United for Delap’s signature amid expectations the previous Manchester City academy participant might sooner or later rival Harry Kane to steer the road for his nation.
Kane is England’s captain and all-time document goalscorer with 73 targets from 107 appearances, however Maresca informed reporters on Sunday: “After we confronted Ipswich, earlier than we confronted Ipswich, so [when] Liam was not a Chelsea participant, I stated that for me, Liam, probably, he might be England’s quantity 9.
“So he was not even with us. And for positive now that he is with us, I will say once more that I haven’t got any doubt that he might be sooner or later England quantity 9.
“[But] I by no means say to a gamers you will be a primary alternative. The message is at all times the identical: you arrive, you’re employed laborious, you’re employed greater than the opposite quantity 9 and you will be quantity 9 first-choice. So the dialog with Liam has been fairly clear.
“He was eager to hitch us as a result of he is aware of the way in which we play, the season that we have been collectively additionally we gained for the primary time for Manchester Metropolis the under-23 competitors. He scored 24, 25 targets that season.
“So he is aware of precisely what we can provide to him and I do know what Liam can provide us. So I feel it is a win-win and the dialog was fairly a straightforward dialog. We like Liam, Liam like us, so it was a straightforward dialog.”
Chelsea handed Delap the membership’s No. 9 shirt, which many high-profile gamers have struggled with in recent times together with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Romelu Lukaku, Gonzalo Higuain, Álvaro Morata and Fernando Torres.
“Liam is aware of fairly nicely how necessary is the quantity 9 for this membership,” continued Maresca, who coached Delap throughout his time at Metropolis. “Personally I do not see any downside about that. I see Liam fairly relaxed, straightforward, he is doing nicely. Since he arrived he is working nicely. We all know one another already from years in the past, so I do know what Liam can provide us, he is aware of what we can provide to him to enhance and to develop into a greater participant.
“And once more by way of quantity 9, hopefully he can rating targets for us.”
Midfielder Moisés Caicedo backed Delap to make a direct affect in the course of the event within the United States after impressing in coaching.
“We’re blissful to have him as a result of he’s a really high participant,” stated Caicedo. “He confirmed [that] final season, so we’re blissful. He’s coaching rather well. You may see the standard he has. For positive, we’re going to rating a number of targets with this wonderful participant.”