England legend Gary Lineker is surprised Arsenal did not push harder to sign Liam Delap and believes the striker could be the ‘missing ingredient’ for Chelsea.
Chelsea beat off strong competition from Manchester United to lure Delap away from Ipswich this summer, with the Blues capturing the 22-year-old forward for a fee of just £30million.
Though Arsenal had been tentatively linked, it’s understood the Gunners decided to focus their efforts on other attacking targets overseas, namely RB Leipzig’s Benjamin Sesko and Sporting’s Viktor Gyokeres.
Delap has put pen to paper on a six-year contract at Stamford Bridge, tying him to the west London giants until 2031.
Cleary desperate to make an immediate impression under Enzo Maresca, the young centre-forward has turned down the chance to represent England at the upcoming Under-21 Championship in order to play for Chelsea at the Club World Cup.
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‘It’s an interesting one. I thought maybe Arsenal would go for him. Perhaps they did? I don’t know,’ ex-England, Tottenham and Barcelona striker Lineker said on the latest episode of The Rest Is Football.
‘But Chelsea have got their man. We said many times this season that Chelsea also needed back-up for [Nicolas] Jackson up top, or an alternative.
‘I think he’s a young, exciting centre-forward.
‘I saw someone say they saw a bit of a young Alan Shearer in him. Shearer with a full head of hair!
‘I think that’s the only thing that Chelsea were missing really.’
Lineker has been impressed by Delap’s ‘intelligent’ movement on the pitch and is confident the attacker has the mentality to succeed at Chelsea.
‘Jackson’s got something in him, but his finishing isn’t as good as a could be and if Delap does realise his full potential, that might just be the missing ingredient. We’ll see,’ he added.
‘What I see in him is movement which is intelligent, I see someone that’s not scared… I know that sounds ridiculous for a centre-forward but I judge it on when he’s goes one-on-one with the goalkeeper, I think he’ll finish, he’ll score.
‘Certain players you get that and now he’s got to prove it at a bigger club. I know he was at Manchester City, but he didn’t really feature much there and he has done at Ipswich.
‘He’s now got to step into the limelight, it’s a big club, Chelsea, they won a Chelsea, of course, this season as well, so he’ll go into this season with a very good side.
‘He’ll have to deal with pressure, but you get a feeling that it’s not going to faze him and he’s a very, very good finisher.
‘That’s the most important thing, having a cool head in those circumstances, and I think Chelsea have got a good one.
‘You can never be sure, obviously, but I’ve obviously been singing his praises for quite a long time.’
Alan Shearer was similarly upbeat about Chelsea’s ‘smart’ piece of transfer business and feels Delap is ‘only going to get better’ over the coming years.
‘I like him as well. For £30m, I think it’s a no-brainer,’ the ex-Newcastle and England striker, the Premier League’s all-time top goalscorer, chimed in.
‘I think Chelsea have got a great deal and I gather that there were other big clubs in for him.
‘For Chelsea to get him at that price, for me, that’s very, very good business because he’s only going to get better.
‘I think he’s a bit old-fashioned, he’s like a throwback from what a centre-forward was maybe 20 or 30 years ago where they were all in fashion: aggressive, horrible to play against, doesn’t mind mixing it up and can run in behind.
‘Obviously, he scores goals. The number of goals he scored in a really struggling team, that is only going to get better.
‘At his age, his ability he’s got now… I think he’s got a really bright future and I would have liked to have seen Newcastle get him, but for whatever reason he’s decided to go with Chelsea and I think that’s a really smart move for them.’
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