Chelsea tipped to sell £30m signing after just one season | Football
Alan Smith believes Chelsea will cut their losses and sign £30m transfer flop Liam Delap this summer.
Chelsea beat a host of rivals, including Manchester United, to sign England U21 star Delap from Ipswich Town last summer.
Delap’s first full season in the Premier League caught the eye of a number of clubs, with the 23-year-old reaching double figures for an Ipswich side who won just four games.
Before impressing at Ipswich, Delap came 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 in the pecking order.
Ex-Arsenal striker Smith says Delap ‘doesn’t look like a Chelsea player’ and believes he might be playing for a new club come the start of next season.
‘Well, it’s certainly not worked for him at Chelsea,’ Smith told BestBettingSites. ‘It’s not been easy circumstances at all.
‘The club has been in turmoil, really. He doesn’t look like a Chelsea player. He’s got some rough edges there.
‘Whether they could be knocked off, I don’t know. But he suited Ipswich a bit better. I still think he could join a mid to maybe a European challenging team.
‘But I think sometimes he gets too involved in the physical side of things, and he’s a little bit mouthy as well. He got booked again the other day for dissent.
‘Maybe that’s a bit of frustration showing, but he would regard it as a failure, I’m sure, to go back to Ipswich. But who knows?
‘I think Chelsea might think they can get him out and get somebody else in.’
Delap has been heavily linked with a move away from Stamford Bridge but he still has the backing of the Chelsea board, according to recent reports.
Ex-Chelsea defender Glen Johnson believes any player struggling to break into the team will be ‘up for sale’ ahead of the summer transfer window.
Anyone not getting in the team is up for sale,’ Johnson told Metro via BetMGM. ‘The team is struggling badly, if you are the person who can’t get in that team, where do you go from there?
‘If they are not good enough to get into a struggling team, then they are not good enough to ever get in the team.
‘You need to rebuild the back-up to push the starting XI and that’s how you improve. If you 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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