Enzo Maresca’s £30m signing told he made mistake joining Chelsea | Football

Gabriel Agbonlahor has named the Premier League club Liam Delap must have joined as a substitute of Chelsea last summer.

Chelsea activated Delap’s £30m Ipswich Town release clause after being impressed by his performances for the Tractor Boys last season.

Delap scored 12 Premier League goals for an Ipswich side that won just 4 games and finished second from bottom, going straight back right down to the Championship.

Manchester City considered re-signing their former academy graduate while Manchester United rivalled Chelsea in the summertime transfer battle.

But Delap favoured a move to Stamford Bridge and signed a six-year take care of Chelsea just in time for his or her victorious Club World Cup campaign.

Chelsea supporters had high hopes for Delap however the 22-year-old has endured a disappointing begin to his profession in west London.

It took Delap eight games to open his account for Chelsea – his first goal coming within the 3-0 Champions League win over Barcelona in the course of the week.

Delap has also struggled with fitness issues since joining Chelsea and was out of motion for nearly two months before getting sent off in his first game back.

Agbonlahor believes Delap made a mistake joining Chelsea last summer given the quantity of competition in Enzo Maresca’s squad and believes he would have benefitted from a move to a ‘lesser club’ like Everton.

‘I’m undecided about Liam Delap in the meanwhile,’ Agbonlahor told talkSPORT ahead of Chelsea’s huge London derby against Arsenal.

‘I feel he might need missed the trick of going to a lesser club before Chelsea, I don’t think he’s going to get the game-time on this Chelsea squad.

‘Could he haven’t gone to an Everton first, got 15-20 goals there after which made the jump to Chelsea?’

Chelsea manager Maresca was hugely critical of Delap after he was sent off in his first game back from injury against Wolves, describing the red card as ’embarrassing’.

‘Today we had a really silly red card that was completely unnecessary,’ a furious Maresca said. ‘A silly foul. He deserved that.

‘I can understand the red cards against Brighton and United, but against Nottingham and today, we are able to avoid that. 

‘It’s embarrassing when it’s a red card like today. Two yellow cards in seven minutes. We are able to avoid each. It’s not good.

‘After the yellow card, I told him 4 or five times to remain calm. When he’s on the pitch, he sometimes plays the sport for himself and struggles to see the others around him.’

Chelsea slipped to 3rd within the Premier League after Manchester City’s dramatic 3-2 win over Leeds United on Saturday.

But Maresca’s side can reclaim second spot from Man City and cut Arsenal’s lead at the highest of the table on Sunday in a big and intriguing London derby.

Ex-Premier League striker Chris Sutton doesn’t expect that to occur, nonetheless, as a substitute tipping Arsenal to return to north London with a routine win.

‘It is a big one – second versus first – and it isn’t the time to take a seat on the fence,’ he told BBC Sport.

‘I like what Enzo Maresca is doing at Chelsea and he’s one other manager who sticks to his principles in the best way his team play.

‘Chelsea have kept three clean sheets in a row now too, in order that they are looking pretty solid on the back, but I still think Arsenal will likely be too powerful for them and win 2-0.

‘Mikel Arteta’s side showed how good they’re once they beat Bayern Munich within the Champions League on Wednesday.

‘They’ve shown they’ll beat any team in any way – out-muscle them, out-fight them or out-play them – and so they will likely be ready for Chelsea.

‘Maresca might go together with some pace up top again like he did against Barcelona’s high line, but Arsenal could have an excessive amount of nous for them and I actually think they may win pretty comfortably.

‘Chelsea have made a extremely good begin to the season but I don’t see them, or anyone else, pushing Arsenal close within the title race.’

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