Maresca supporting Delap to become a starter in England after completing Chelsea Move

Enzo Maresca threw his full support behind the new arrival of Liam Delap, admitting that the attacker was destined to become the first English issue.

Delap, 22, should make his Chelsea debut at the club’s World Cup after completing a switch of £ 30m from Ipswich earlier this month.

On the move, Delap reunited with Maresc, who had previously trained him at the Manchester City Academy. The attacker signed a six -year contract at Stamford Bridge after scoring 12 goals in 37 Premier League games last season.

Chelsea begins his club campaign of the World Cup against the Los Angeles FC on Monday, where Delap could present the Blue for the first time.

Maresca, speaking from the United States, praised Delap’s potential: “I said Liam could be English number nine when we faced Ipswich.

“Now he is a Chelsea player, I will say again, I have no doubt that it can be in the future of England number nine.

Chelsea paid as much for Liam Delap as the whole LAFC team is worth pic.twitter.com/8obppxsdqk

– Football transfers (@transfersdotcom) June 16, 2025

“We won with Manchester City under the age of 23, scored 24, 25 goals of that season, so he knows exactly what we can give him, I know what Liam can give us.

“It’s a winning victory. We love Liam, Liam loves us, so it was an easy conversation.”

Delap decided to withdraw from the English team for the European Championships in the age of 21 to join Chelsea for their tour in the US.

Delap is one of the four fresh faces in the Chelsea’s line -up that goes to the tournament, along with the return lender Andrey Santos and the new recruits for young people Dario Essugo, Mom Sarr and Mike Pens.

Despite Fanfare about Delap’s arrival, Maresca was tightly about whether the striker would start against the LAFC, noting that he faced the competition of Nicolas Jackson for the lead role in the attack.