Chelsea are going to take the Club World Cup seriously when they fly to the US later this month for the tournament.
Chelsea have already signed Liam Delap from Ipswich Town to help them try and win the Club World Cup trophy.
Delap’s arrival is one Reece James has welcomed, and there could be more to come before the summer ends.
However, Chelsea and Enzo Maresca‘s hopes of signing one of their other targets in time for the Club World Cup now look to be over.
Chelsea won’t sign Hugo Ekitike in time for Club World Cup
While Chelsea have added Delap to Maresca’s squad, they are still interested in signing Hugo Ekitike from Eintracht Frankfurt.
Chelsea have held talks with Eintracht over signing Ekitike but have been unable to agree a fee.
It is thought that Eintracht are demanding around £86m for Ekitike, explaining why the Blues are yet to conclude a deal.
With it being early in the summer, there is still time for Chelsea to sign the 22-year-old. However, journalist Simon Phillips has ruled out a move happening before the Club World Cup on his Substack Si Phillips Talks Chelsea.
FIFA added an extra transfer window to the calendar to give teams an opportunity to strengthen their squads for the tournament, but it closes on Tuesday.
It means Chelsea are running out of time to add to the Delap signing ahead of the competition.
Why Nicolas Jackson should start Chelsea’s game against Los Angeles FC ahead of Liam Delap
With Ekitike now unlikely to be part of the Chelsea squad travelling to the US, Delap, Nicolas Jackson and Marc Guiu will be Maresca’s striker options.
Chelsea fans will be keen to see Delap take to the pitch when the Blues face off against Los Angeles FC in their first game of the Club World Cup.
However, with the Englishman being a new signing and Jackson scoring such a crucial goal in Chelsea’s Conference League final against Real Betis, the latter should probably be starting.
He deserves to after his contribution in Wroclaw. Without him, maybe Chelsea would not have grabbed that second goal.
