Chelsea injury update with star ruled out until 2026 after Enzo Maresca transfer hint

• Chelsea
• Chelsea News
• Liam Delap

Chelsea are set to be missing another important player until the new year during an extremely busy period of matches, coming as a blow to Enzo Maresca and his side.

Chelsea are set to be without Liam Delap until 2026, as football.london understands that the striker is set to miss four weeks of action through injury. The forward picked up a shoulder issue in the Blues' draw with Bournemouth over the weekend, coming off after just 30 minutes.

Delap challenged for a ball into the box, and crashed into Cherries defender Marcos Senesi, as the pair landed awkwardly in the aftermath. The striker was in some discomfort, with the medical team turning his shirt into a make-shift sling as he made his way off the pitch.

As a result, Delap is now expected to miss four weeks as part of his recovery, meaning he won't be available again until early January. It's yet another blow for the 22-year-old, who has already faced a stop-start beginning to his carer in west London so far.

He made the move to Stamford Bridge in the summer, joining from relegated Ipswich Town for a fee worth roughly £30m. Despite the Tractor Boys suffering relegation, the striker was a standout option for the side, showing a real physical present up top to help drag them through some games.

With plenty of potential for the future, Chelsea snapped him up before their rivals could, as they looked to develop him for the years to come. While there was hope that he could hit the ground running this season, that hasn't quite been the case so far.

A major hamstring injury kept Delap out for a few months, with the likes of Joao Pedro, Marc Guiu and Pedro Neto taking up the centre-forward role in his absence. A return to action came as an opportunity to kickstart his career for the Blues, but it was halted a little more.

Delap picked up a red card in Chelsea's Carabao Cup clash with Wolves, which led to Maresca slamming the striker for the recklessness of his two challenges that resulted in bookings.

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