Nicolas Jackson has made a strong start to his second season as a Chelsea player. The Senegalese attacker has already scored seven times and grabbed three assists this term for the Blues, in just 12 Premier League games.

He is already halfway to his total from last season, his debut campaign in England. The 23-year-old scored and assisted 19 times in 2023/24, a productive start which he is on course to better this term.

One of Chelsea’s biggest issues is the lack of depth they have up front. If Jackson gets injured, the Blues have Christopher Nkunku and Joao Felix as options, although they are both better suited to playing as a number 10.

Enzo Maresca’s side have recently been linked with someone who could provide excellent depth to the squad and competition for Jackson.

Chelsea target Premier League striker

The player in question here is Ipswich Town striker Liam Delap. The 21-year-old is having a fantastic season for the Tractor Boys, which has led several of the top clubs in England to show an interest in signing him.

According to the highly reputable David Ornstein, one of those clubs is Chelsea. The Blues are believed to be “tracking” Delap’s progress this term and could make a move as they look to add depth up front alongside Jackson.

However, they are not alone in their hunt for the Ipswich number 19. Ornstein reports that ‘Big Six’ rivals Manchester United are also thought to be interested, and Manchester City have a buyback clause if they want to resign their former academy star.

In terms of a price for Delap, the striker could cost anywhere upwards of £40m, according to a report from CaughtOffside. They also value City’s buyback clause at £20m.

Why Delap would be a good signing

Over the first few months of the Premier League season, Delap has been one of the best strikers in the division. He has scored six goals and has one assist to his name in 13 games, including a goal and assist away to Tottenham Hotspur in their only win. Given he is playing for a struggling Ipswich side who have won one game, they are impressive numbers.

The Englishman has very eye-catching underlying numbers. Firstly, there are just eight players who have outscored the striker this season in the Premier League. One of them is Jackson, who has seven, the same number as Chelsea teammate Cole Palmer.

According to Fbref, only three players are exceeding their expected goals more than Delap is this season. He has an expected goals tally of 3.4xG and is exceeding that by 2.6. That is a gap that shows he is a clinical finisher without it being ridiculously high so he can’t continue it over a long period.

The “incredible” striker, as Pep Guardiola described him, has some great shooting numbers, as per FBref. One of the standout statistics is the fact he scores a goal every 0.3 shots he takes, ranking him in the top 12% of strikers in the Premier League.

Stat (per 90)

Number

Percentile

Goals

0.63

78th

Shots on target %

55%

73rd

Goals per shot

0.3

88th

Goals per shot on target

0.55

83rd

Goals minus xG

0.27

93rd

Signing the former Man City man would be a good way to add variety up front for Chelsea. They currently have Jackson as their first choice, a diligent channel runner who loves to get in behind the opposition defence.

However, Delap is someone who can play much more with his back to goal, holding up the ball and getting runners around him into the game, as well as being a clinical penalty box finisher, as the stats show.

Bringing in a completely different profile to the Senegalese attacker would be a smart move to add variety to the Chelsea squad. It allows Maresca much more tactical flexibility and adds good competition for Jackson.

The Blues have already had plenty of success signing players who have played in the Cityzens academy, including Romeo Lavia and Jadon Sancho.

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However, Palmer is the best example of this; he has 32 goals and 20 assists to his name in just 59 games for the West Londoners. He has been simply incredible so far.

The pair grew up together in their academy days and would be hoping to reignite a partnership at the highest level in the Blue of Chelsea.

If Chelsea were to sign Delap, they would be hoping he is even half as good as Palmer and he would have been worth the money.

For a fee of around £40m, it would be a smart signing given he is beginning to prove himself at this level, is young and a completely different profile to Jackson.

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