Enzo Maresca heaps praise on 'fantastic' Chelsea transfer target | OneFootball

Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca was full of praise for Ipswich Town striker Liam Delap, hailing the Blues target as a "fantastic player".

It emerged last month that Chelsea were among the suitors for 21-year-old Delap, who has six goals in 17 games this season ahead of Monday's meeting between the two sides.

Few managers know Delap better than Maresca, who coached the youngster to 27 goals in 22 games for Manchester City's Under-23 side in the 2020/21 season, and the Chelsea boss did not shy away from praising the young striker.

"Liam is a fantastic player," Maresca said. "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."

Delap has caught the eye with Ipswich / Justin Setterfield/GettyImages

Despite their interest, Chelsea are not expected to pursue a move in January, when Ipswich would likely be reluctant to entertain offers anyway. Kieran McKenna's side sit 19th in the Premier League table and will need Delap's goals if they are to avoid relegation back down to the Championship.

However, a summer transfer could be a possibility - particularly if Ipswich fail to avoid the drop - although City could have the final say as they are believed to have a buy-back clause to bring Delap back to the Etihad Stadium.

Chelsea are known to want another striker to provide competition for Nicolas Jackson and are said to be tracking as many as ten potential targets, with a view to settling on one before the summer window opens.