Chelsea striker Liam Delap is determined to fight for his future at Chelsea, according to sources spoken to by Striver.Football.
Delap netted just two goals last season for the Blues last season following his £30m move from Ipswich in the previous summer.
While Delap was expected to provide the Blues with a different dynamic, he failed to use his strength and physicality to good effect, often times comitting cheap fouls and on one occasion receiving a red card.
Though, while Delap is understood to know he did not live up to expectation, there is a point to the multiple injuries suffered, where Delap missed fifteen games in total during the course of last season.
Undeterred By Backup Role
Joao Pedro is Chelsea's main man and Delap knows that. Still, it is understood that while every player naturally wants to play regurarly, Delap is described as both determined to make himself a success at Chelsea and also undettered by not being an automatic starter.
There is a desire to write some wrongs around last season, with the player feeling like he has much more to offer on a both a technical and pure goalscoring level than last season.
Indeed, sources have suggested that Delap is almost desperate to impress new manager Xabi Alonso and has been putting in work over the summer to maintain a top physical condition.
Alonso has been known to use more physical strikers, with the Spaniard finding success with profiles such as Victor Boniface, Gonzalo Garcia and Patrick Schick during his management career so far.
That history could bode well for Delap, should he hit it off with the new manager in pre season.
Club Position On Delap
The Blues will collaborate with Alonso on all positions this summer. There is a feeling that the striker position is an important one to get right this summer, due to the volume of players set to contest for the position.
Alonso will hold a conversation with Nicolas Jackson, who is still valued highly by Chelsea, both on a sporting and financial level.
There will be a desire from all to find out how 'locked in' Jackson will be next season, before taking any decisions.
The new Chelsea boss is trying to rebuild the culture at Chelsea, and will not want Jackson causing unnecesary drama on or off the pitch, should he not be playing.
Chelsea also have the likes of Dastan Satpaev, Marc Guiu, David Datro Fofana and Emmanuel Emegha on the books.
Delap does have interest from multiple clubs, but it is understood that any departure would be down to the club, in collaboration with Alonso.
What the future holds for the English striker will be established in the next weeks, but there is no doubt on the player end that the feeling is positive as to what could be achieved, if given a second chance.
