Chelsea can forget Delap by releasing “Cobham’s Best” 17-year-old star

Nicolas Jackson has become a hot topic again at Chelsea, missing five Premier League games due to injury and has recently returned from injury.

Although the 23-year-old has scored nine times this season and also provided five assists, he has not scored in his last 11 Premier League games and finally played against Brentford in December.

Enzo Maresca makes it clear that he is a fan of Jackson and his contribution to the team, making the ruthless run in the back, squeezing from the front and putting in extra yards.

However, he lacks goals, paired with players like Cole Palmer’s form decline, and Chelsea has struggled to find the back of the net in recent months.

It seems like Chelsea will almost inevitably sign a forward in the summer as they hope to provide Maresca with another center to compete with Jackson. Especially one person has recently dominated media connections.

Chelsea’s latest interest in Liam Drapp

Liam Delap is closely linked to Chelsea’s relocation, and Manchester United is also said to be running for the 21-year-old Ipswich town striker.

The Blues reportedly negotiated with Ipswich to hold talks on a possible summer.

The British striker has made 31 appearances in the Premier League this season, scoring 12 goals and providing 2 assists.

The 6-foot-1 striker is perfectly built for the Premier League, with the physical ability to bully defenders while also matching the technical quality and joined Manchester City Academy in 2019 after the Derby.

When comparing Delap’s basic metrics with Jackson’s, you can see how their two profiles differ, the former offering a higher level of clinical finish and box presence, earning 1.92 aerial confrontations per 90 games.

Both players have the ability to improve and run the channel by carrying quality, but Jackson showed higher levels of links and provided higher links for his teammates, allowing more progress to pass and create more shots.

But maybe Maresca can watch Cobham release his own Delap instead of splashing cash.

Chelsea’s Cobham “jewelry”

Looking back at Chelsea’s team, you’ll soon notice a young forward who walked through the academy under Shumaira Mhueka, often shortened to “Shim.”

Mheuka came out of Brighton’s Academy in 2022 and spent two years at Cobham before making her first senior breakthrough this season.

The 17-year-old has the natural ability to create his own shooting angle, with excellent agility and spherical manipulation in and around the box. He has the qualities of hitting the ball and has shown signs of using his weight to protect the ball and not having a defender.

Mheuka was described by Jacek Kulig as “the best of Cobham”, who also marked the young forward as “amazing talent” and clearly saw the reason.

The teenager made 16 appearances for the U21 team in Premier League 2 this season, scoring four goals and providing two assists. In 2024/25, he scored ten goals in 21 games in the youth level.

He caught fire last semester, but hit ten of the 17 fixtures. His performance in the youth team has won four senior appearances from Mheuka, accounting for 73 minutes of the four games.

Given the opportunity, Mheuka could prove to be a Chelsea striker needs in the coming years, saving the club a lot of money and solving their goal-scoring dilemma in one go. How long will it take and which path to develop is another story.