While battle lines are drawn between the two strikers with very different journeys to the top, there is a way both can thrive
“T
hey are quite similar,” Enzo Maresca said last week of Liam Delap and Nicolas Jackson, but of course nobody wanted to take any notice of that bit. Already battle lines are being drawn, positions entrenched. Delap or Jackson. Jackson or Delap. One must survive. One must go reluctantly on loan to Serie A. Those are just the rules.
On these terms alone, it’s been a very good week for Delap. Against Flamengo in the Club World Cup on Friday, he was preferred up front, and played with bristling, controlled aggression for more than an hour before making way for Jackson. He then watched as his replacement lost possession with his first touch, went studs‑up with his second, was sent off and scapegoated for Chelsea’s 3-1 defeat, and later issued a grovelling apology on social media for his actions.
Beyond this, there is a kind of momentum to Chelsea’s new £30m signing right now: the sort of excitement and energy that accompany any shiny young thing on the verge of a breakthrough. Commentators raise their voices a little higher whenever he bears down on goal. It helps, of course, that he is English 12 months before a World Cup, and can thus knock on Thomas Tuchel’s door. He did media duties at the weekend and spoke very well, I thought. Above all Delap is just good and new in a culture where this is basically all that matters.
