Ben Jacobs: Chelsea slip to second favourite in race for striker option “well-known to Enzo Maresca” | OneFootball

We had just been noticing that it was all going a little quiet on the Chelsea striker search front.

Perhaps it was just these pesky important football matches getting in the way of transfer talk – either way, we hadn’t heard much concrete new information for a couple of weeks.

Delap back in the headlines – and it’s not positive for Chelsea

But today – perhaps prompted by Nicolas Jackson’s brain fart yesterday – there’s a fresh wave of information pertaining to our apparent number one target for the summer, Liam Delap.

Ben Jacobs has come in hot with a major update that’s not necessarily good news for Chelsea fans. It makes it seems very much like Manchester United are moving ahead of us in the race.

Jacobs says that Man U are “optimistic” of signing Delap should they beat Spurs in the Europa League final. The Red Devils and the Blues are the “two leading Premier League clubs” chasing his signature, both ready to trigger his £30m release clause now that Ipswich have been relegated.

Delap wants to see European finishes for rival bidders

Ben Jacobs Tweet about Liam Delap.

For his part, Delap is waiting to see where both teams end up in terms of European competition next summer. United are apparently ready to target Delap as well as Matheus Cunha from Wolves. Meanwhile Chelsea have a “number of striker options” they’re considering, although it’s noted that Delap is “well known to Enzo Maresca and Chelsea’s recruitment team.”

All in all, it sounds like we’ve gone from favourites to second favourites to sign Delap.

Crucially, Delap wants his future sorted before he goes to the Under-21 Euros in the summer, while Chelsea famously want to try and get all their business done for the Club World Cup, which is now less than a month away.