Chelsea 'keen' on Premier League striker pair ahead of January transfer window

Chelsea won 2-1 away at Leicester City on Saturday afternoon. Nicolas Jackson and Enzo Fernandez got their goals against the Foxes.

Enzo Maresca’s side are sat in 3rd place in the Premier League table behind Liverpool and Manchester City. Here is a look at the latest news and rumours coming out of the club...

Striker eyed

Chelsea are ‘keen’ on a move for Ipswich Town striker Liam Delap, according to a report by i News. The 21-year-old, who is an England youth international, has scored six goals in 11 games for the Tractor Boys so far this season and has adapted well to life at Portman Road under the guidance of Kieran McKenna.

Delap would give the Blues more competition and depth up top if they were able to lure him to Stamford Bridge. He is under contract with the Tractor Boys until 2029 after penning a long-term five-year contract.

Ipswich’s CEO Mark Ashton has hinted that music star and minority shareholder Ed Sheeran helped sign the youngster. He said, as per TWTD: “In the summer, we were trying to persuade one particular player to join the football club and realised very quickly that he was an Ed Sheeran fan. Ed jumped on a Zoom call with him at the training ground, just before he stepped on stage with Taylor Swift. Hopefully, that was a key part in getting the player across the line.”

When pressed on the player’s identity, he said: “He’s certainly scoring a few goals.”

Delap rose up through Derby County’s ranks before City signed him in 2019. He went on to make six appearances for Pep Guardiola’s side and was loaned out to Stoke City, Preston North End and Hull City in the Championship to get some experience under his belt. He scored eight goals for the latter in the last campaign under their former boss Liam Rosenior before landing his Ipswich transfer and he hasn’t looked back since.

Attacker on radar

Chelsea remain interested in Brighton and Hove Albion forward Evan Ferguson, according to TEAMtalk. The Republic of Ireland may be seen as an alternative to Delap this winter.

The 20-year-old has made 18 caps for his country to date. He joined the Seagulls in 2021 from Bohemians and has since found the net on 17 occasions in 73 outings.

He has only scored once this term and former Ireland man John Aldridge has given some advice and said: “His time will come, he has just got to be patient and work hard at his game. I always did that.

“After training, if you are frustrated that you are not playing, get one of the apprentices, get a goalie and do some finishing for half-an-hour, once or twice a week. Just bang the ball in the back of the net so you know when the chance comes around you are going to take it.

“That’s what I used to do. You have got to be mentally tuned as well and be prepared, so when it comes along you don’t fluff your lines. Work really hard at your game. He’s young, he’s fit, just work ever so hard. Little things that he needs to bring into his game, just work on it after training.”