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Chelsea beat Manchester United, Newcastle and Everton<\/a> to sign Delap in June.<\/p>\n The Blues activated his \u00a330m release clause, which looked good value after he scored 12 goals in 37 games for relegated Ipswich last season, <\/p>\n He set up a goal on his debut against LAFC at the Club World Cup, and scored in his third appearance against ES Tunis in the group stage of the tournament, which Chelsea won.<\/p>\n However, fellow new signing Joao Pedro took his place after scoring five goals in his first five starts, including an impressive lobbed finish in the 3-0 Club World Cup final win over Paris St-Germain.<\/p>\n With Pedro in favour, Delap then suffered that serious hamstring injury against Fulham in August, which ruled him out for two months.<\/p>\n On his return in the Carabao Cup against Wolves in October, Maresca called his red card for a push on Yerson Mosquera and barge into Emmanuel Agbadou “very stupid” and “embarrassing”.<\/a><\/p>\n Delap then apologised to his team-mates publicly and privately, but there are concerns over discipline given he received the joint-most bookings (12) in the Premier League last season.<\/p>\n Another issue for Delap is adapting to Chelsea’s possession-heavy style of play, despite having worked successfully with Maresca in Manchester City’s under-21 title-winning team in 2020-21.<\/p>\n “Liam is a number nine who needs space, needs to attack in behind and fight,” Maresca said last month. “Against teams in a low block, it’s more difficult because there is no space to attack.”<\/p>\n Maresca also said Delap “needed” his first goal of the season, and was relieved when he ended his 13-game drought by scoring the third in a 3-0 win over Barcelona in late November.<\/p>\n Yet Delap remains without a Premier League goal in eight appearances, with just two in 17 matches across all competitions since joining Chelsea.<\/p>\n He effectively replaced Nicolas Jackson, now on loan at Bayern Munich, after the Senegal forward was frozen out in his last few months at the club. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n