Alan Smith believes Chelsea will cut their losses and sign £30m transfer flop Liam Delap this summer.
Chelsea beat a number of rivals, including Manchester United, to sign England U21 star Delap from Ipswich Town last summer.
Delap’s first full season within the Premier League caught the attention of plenty of clubs, with the 23-year-old reaching double figures for an Ipswich side who won just 4 games.
Before impressing at Ipswich, Delap got here through at Manchester City and signing the striker for just £30m was seen as somewhat of a coup for Chelsea.
But Delap has endured a dismal first season at Stamford Bridge, scoring just two goals in 38 appearances, most of which have come from the bench.
Delap was expected to compete with Joao Pedro for a starting spot but quickly fell behind the Brazilian within the pecking order.
Ex-Arsenal striker Smith says Delap ‘doesn’t appear like a Chelsea player’ and believes he is likely to be playing for a brand new club come the beginning of next season.
‘Well, it’s actually not worked for him at Chelsea,’ Smith told BestBettingSites. ‘It’s not been easy circumstances in any respect.
‘The club has been in turmoil, really. He doesn’t appear like a Chelsea player. He’s got some rough edges there.
‘Whether or not they could possibly be knocked off, I don’t know. But he suited Ipswich a bit higher. I still think he could join a mid to possibly a European difficult team.
‘But I believe sometimes he gets too involved within the physical side of things, and he’s a bit of bit mouthy as well. He got booked again the opposite day for dissent.
‘Perhaps that’s a little bit of frustration showing, but he would regard it as a failure, I’m sure, to return to Ipswich. But who knows?
‘I believe Chelsea might think they’ll get him out and get someone else in.’
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Delap has been heavily linked with a move away from Stamford Bridge but he still has the backing of the Chelsea board, in line with recent reports.
Ex-Chelsea defender Glen Johnson believes any player struggling to interrupt into the team will likely be ‘up on the market’ ahead of the summer transfer window.
Anyone not getting within the team is up on the market,’ Johnson told Metro via BetMGM. ‘The team is struggling badly, when you are the one that can’t get in that team, where do you go from there?
‘In the event that they usually are not ok to get right into a struggling team, then they usually are not ok to ever get within the team.
‘You should rebuild the back-up to push the starting XI and that’s the way you improve. For those who haven’t got adequate back up, it’s all downhill.’
Chelsea’s miserable form continued on Monday as they suffered their sixth successive Premier League defeat, losing 3-1 to Nottingham Forest.
Interim boss Calum McFarlane takes the Blues to Anfield on Saturday to face struggling Premier League champions Liverpool.
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