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Enzo Maresca insisted that Nicolas Jackson is the “perfect No 9” for Chelsea but said he would welcome another striker like him at Stamford Bridge as he praised Ipswich Town’s Liam Delap ahead of the meeting between the two teams on Sunday. Chelsea are among a host of Premier League clubs known to be tracking Delap, who has scored 12 goals in his first top-flight campaign and has a £30million ($39.2million) release clause if Ipswich are relegated to the Championship.
Advertisement Maresca knows Delap from his stint coaching Manchester City’s elite development squad in 2020-21, when Delap was in City’s academy. While Maresca would not be drawn on Chelsea’s interest in the 22-year-old and pointedly praised Jackson after Thursday’s 3-0 win over Legia Warsaw in the UEFA Conference League round of 16, he did not hide his admiration for the Ipswich striker. “In terms of numbers, he’s doing fantastic,” Maresca said of Delap.
“I think he’s scored 12 (Premier League) goals already. It’s not just in terms of his numbers. The way he plays and fights and is always ‘there’.
But he’s an Ipswich player. He’s an enemy on Sunday because we need to beat them, and then after the game I wish him all the best for the future. “To compare Liam with Harry Kane and Erling Haaland, it’s a bit early.
But in terms of style he’s that kind of player. They are all real nines. “We also have a good nine (Jackson).
He’s doing well since we started. Unfortunately, we’ve missed him (during his injury), and sometimes you need to miss players to realise how important they are. With Nico, we are a completely different team compared to when he was injured.
We are happy with Nico as our striker.” Asked what profile of striker Chelsea will be looking to sign this summer, Maresca replied: “My perfect number nine is exactly Nico Jackson. We already have a number nine.
It’s not summer now.” Jackson missed two months of the season, from February to April, after sustaining a hamstring injury. When pressed on whether he would like to have two Jacksons in his squad, Maresca smiled and added: “If we can have a copy of Nico, it’s OK.
With Nico we are a better team. Nico is the one we need. “Last season, he scored goals without penalties.
This season he scored goals until he was injured. We are happy with Nico. And about next season, it’s not the moment (to talk about transfers).
” Advertisement Delap played a key role in Ipswich’s shock 2-0 win over Chelsea at Portman Road in December, winning and scoring an early penalty, setting up the second goal and carrying a threat with his pace and physicality in transition. Maresca is keenly aware that his team will need to control him better when the two teams meet again on Sunday. “It’s something we need to pay attention to,” Maresca said.
“If you watch Ipswich, (Delap) is doing that against any team, not just against us. In the first game, he was quite good for them. We need to deal with that, and we need to do much, much better compared to the first game.
” Ipswich are 12 points adrift of safety behind 17th-placed Wolves with seven matches left to play. (Top photo: Glyn Kirk/AFP via Getty Images).
