Chelsea beat Manchester United, Newcastle and Everton to sign Delap in June.
The Blues activated his £30m release clause, which looked good value after he scored 12 goals in 37 games for relegated Ipswich last season,
He set up a goal on his debut against LAFC at the Club World Cup, and scored in his third appearance against ES Tunis in the group stage of the tournament, which Chelsea won.
However, fellow new signing Joao Pedro took his place after scoring five goals in his first five starts, including an impressive lobbed finish in the 3-0 Club World Cup final win over Paris St-Germain.
With Pedro in favour, Delap then suffered that serious hamstring injury against Fulham in August, which ruled him out for two months.
On his return in the Carabao Cup against Wolves in October, Maresca called his red card for a push on Yerson Mosquera and barge into Emmanuel Agbadou “very stupid” and “embarrassing”.
Delap then apologised to his team-mates publicly and privately, but there are concerns over discipline given he received the joint-most bookings (12) in the Premier League last season.
Another issue for Delap is adapting to Chelsea’s possession-heavy style of play, despite having worked successfully with Maresca in Manchester City’s under-21 title-winning team in 2020-21.
“Liam is a number nine who needs space, needs to attack in behind and fight,” Maresca said last month. “Against teams in a low block, it’s more difficult because there is no space to attack.”
Maresca also said Delap “needed” his first goal of the season, and was relieved when he ended his 13-game drought by scoring the third in a 3-0 win over Barcelona in late November.
Yet Delap remains without a Premier League goal in eight appearances, with just two in 17 matches across all competitions since joining Chelsea.
He effectively replaced Nicolas Jackson, now on loan at Bayern Munich, after the Senegal forward was frozen out in his last few months at the club.
