Xabi Alonso faces a number of dilemmas and problems to solve when he officially starts as Chelsea manager – and the striker department is certainly one of them
When Chelsea splashed out £30million to bring Liam Delap in from Ipswich Town just over 12 months ago, the early signs were encouraging.
Almost a year to the very day, Delap made his debut for the Blues. The £30m signing, who was brought in after an impressive personal showing for Ipswich in the 2024/25 season, was brought on for the final half hour against Los Angeles FC in Chelsea’s Club World Cup opener last June.
Despite not having much time on the pitch at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Delap impressed in his cameo and produced an assist to set up Enzo Fernandez, who capped off the 2-0 victory for the west Londoners. That in itself was encouraging for Chelsea head coach – at the time – Enzo Maresca, but his link-up play with Cole Palmer was the real highlight.
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Trying to get the best out of Palmer was high on Chelsea’s priority list after an underwhelming 2024/25 campaign. The addition of Delap, who is close friends with Palmer following their time together in Manchester City’s academy, seemed a good bet to do just that.
Delap had also worked with Maresca at City and he said in an interview during the Club World Cup that the Italian, who departed Chelsea the following January, was a big part in his decision to move to Stamford Bridge. The 23-year-old forward has plenty of options – including Manchester United – but he favoured a move to Maresca’s Blues.
From day one of the 25/26 season, though, even Maresca favoured what Joao Pedro offered Chelsea as the No.9. Delap made just 12 starts over the course of his first Premier League campaign with the west Londoners – not helped by the form of Joao Pedro. The Brazilian was excellent pretty much all season-long but for the most part, whenever Delap was given an opportunity – and he had many of them – he was unable to make an impression.
Remarkably, and as brutal as this sounds, the aforementioned night in Atlanta was one of the few highlights for Delap over the course of Chelsea’s extended season. He finished the season with just two goals and four assists in all competitions. Of course, there is more to being an impactful No.9 than just scoring goals and providing assists, but Delap failed to show his value to the side under Maresca, Liam Rosenior and Calum McFarlane.
That has led to a conundrum for Chelsea this summer. New manager Xabi Alonso is likely to have the final say in relation to Delap’s whereabouts next season, and there is speculation that could be away from Stamford Bridge. Although, sources close to the centre-forward insist he wants to fight for his place next term.
Everton are said to have explored the possibility of signing Chelsea’s No.9 in recent weeks, knowing the Blues are set to offload at the very least one striker before the conclusion of the summer transfer window. Alonso will have the following as options for the No.9 role when he walks through the door next month: Delap, Marc Guiu, Joao Pedro, Emmanuel Emegha and Nicolas Jackson.
There is no denying Chelsea’s central striker department is bloated at the moment and there will be talks over the coming weeks between Alonso and the club’s sporting leadership team about how they want to cut it.
The initial plan was for Guiu to spend last season with Sunderland on loan but his time at the Stadium of Light was cut short after less than a month due to Jackson moving to Bayern Munich late in the transfer window. Chelsea might well look to loan the Spaniard out this summer because he is set to be at the bottom of the pecking order under Alonso.
What the club have in store for incoming signing Emegha, we do not yet know. That has been complicated somewhat with Jackson being handed a second chance at Stamford Bridge.
As revealed on football.london at the end of last month, Chelsea are expected to welcome Jackson back this summer and give the Senegal international, who spent the 2025/26 season on loan with Bayern Munich, the opportunity to impress Alonso. The incoming Blues boss will then make a decision on where he sees Jackson in relation to his plans. Jackson, sources say, is open to returning to the west Londoners but a final decision on his future has not yet been made.
Staggeringly, the only striker you could say, with some degree of certainty, will be playing his football at Chelsea next season is Joao Pedro. Barcelona expressed an interest in the Brazil international last month but the Blues view the 24-year-old forward as untouchable in the summer transfer market.
It will be interesting to see, if indeed Chelsea do list Delap for sale this summer, what sort of price they would be able to get for the Englishman. The Blues paid £30m, by all intents and purposes a modest fee in the modern football transfer market, and would surely be hoping to at the very least break even if he is sold this summer.
