‘No Doubt’—Enzo Maresca Makes Bold Liam Delap Prediction After First Chelsea Goal

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·25 June 2025

‘No Doubt’—Enzo Maresca Makes Bold Liam Delap Prediction After First Chelsea Goal

Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca has reiterated his confidence in new signing Liam Delap, who opened his account for the Blues in the Club World Cup triumph over ES Tunis.

Delap, starting his second consecutive game in the absence of suspended striker Nicolas Jackson, wheeled away in celebration in first half stoppage time after weaving his way between two defenders and slotting home his first Chelsea goal to help inspire a comfortable 3–0 victory.

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Having also popped up with an assist in his first outing earlier this summer, Delap has enjoyed a productive start to life at Chelsea and Maresca has insisted the new No. 9, who dazzled under his watch in the Manchester City academy, is just getting started.

“Against Flamengo, he had three clear chances to score goals,” Maresca said after the game. “That is already a good feeling because it means he is in the right position and is there.

“We have no doubt Liam will score goals for us. No doubt about that.

Delap caught the eye against ES Tunis. / IMAGO/Gribaudi/ImagePhoto

“We expected the process to be quick with Liam. The reason why is because we know him and he knows us with the way we play. For Dário [Essugo], Andrey [Santos] or Mamadou [Sarr] it is going to be a little bit more complicated and they need time because they don’t know exactly how we play.

“For Liam, the process can be quite quick, and he is a really good player.”

Delap was quick to focus the praise on midfield chief Enzo Fernández, who picked up his second assist of the evening with a smart pass through to his new £30 million ($40.8 million) striker.

“He is an incredible player,” Delap said of Fernández. “We’ve spoken as much as we can and he’s told me to run when he gets the ball and I did. He showed today his quality of passing, he got two assists and I’m just lucky he passed it to me.

“It’s a great feeling. We needed to win today and to get a goal, it’s a special feeling and even more more importantly, we’re through to the next stage.”