CHELSEA coach Enzo Maresca said Sunday he is confident new signing Liam Delap will become England’s number nine after Harry Kane.
Bayern Munich striker Kane, 31, has led the line for England for most of the last decade, but Delap is showing great potential, which led Chelsea to snap him up for £30 million ($41 million) from relegated Ipswich Town earlier this month.
“I don’t have any doubt that he can be in the future England’s number nine,“ said Chelsea’s coach on the eve of their Club World Cup opener against Los Angeles FC, when asked if Delap could succeed Kane.
Maresca would not confirm if the 22-year-old forward will start at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta on Monday but said Delap was not showing any nerves after taking the Blues’ number nine shirt.
Chelsea have signed several high-profile strikers in recent years who have struggled at the club, including Fernando Torres, Romelu Lukaku and Alvaro Morata.
“Liam knows quite well how important is the number nine for this club… I see him quite relaxed, easy, he’s doing well, since he arrived he’s working well,“ said Maresca.
The Italian coached Delap in Manchester City’s under-21 team previously and said the link between them would be mutually beneficial.
“We know each other already from years ago, so I know what Liam can give us, he knows what we can give to him to improve and to become a better player,“ explained Maresca.
“He was keen to join us because he knows the way we play, the season that we were together…he scored 24 goals.
“We like Liam, Liam likes us, so it was an easy conversation.”
The coach said he had not promised Delap he would be starting ahead of Nicolas Jackson.
“I never say to a player you (will) be a first choice, the message is always the same, you arrive, you work hard, you work more than the other number nine (and you can be),“ he added.
Maresca said Chelsea were interested in signing a left-winger later in the summer to replace Jadon Sancho, whose loan will not be made permanent, but for now were focused on the Club World Cup and first opponents LAFC.
“I’m never confident, I don’t know if it’s something good or something bad, but I think because of the technology today, any game can be difficult,“ he said.
“They can watch many games about us, we can watch many games about them, so every game becomes very complicated.”
