{"id":16318,"date":"2025-10-24T19:03:33","date_gmt":"2025-10-24T13:33:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/?p=650919"},"modified":"2025-10-24T19:03:33","modified_gmt":"2025-10-24T13:33:33","slug":"chelseas-liam-delap-nears-return-as-maresca-provides-positive-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/football\/chelseas-liam-delap-nears-return-as-maresca-provides-positive-update\/","title":{"rendered":"Chelsea\u2019s Liam Delap nears return as Maresca provides positive update"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca has provided a promising update on young striker Liam Delap, hinting that the forward could soon make his return to action. The Englishman, who has been sidelined due to injury, reportedly took part in team training for the first time this week.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking ahead of Chelsea\u2019s upcoming fixtures, Maresca confirmed that Delap is edging closer to full fitness. \u201cLiam took part of the session with the team yesterday for the first time, but won\u2019t be available for Sunderland. [Maybe] for the next one,\u201d Maresca said, suggesting the 21-year-old might feature in the cup match against Wolves.<\/p>\n<p>The update comes as a significant boost for Chelsea, who have struggled with attacking depth in recent weeks. Delap\u2019s intensity, physical presence, and goal-scoring instincts have been missed, especially as Maresca continues to shape his new-look Chelsea side following a mixed start to the season.<\/p>\n<p>Delap, who joined Chelsea earlier this year, has impressed in training sessions and is expected to play an important role under Maresca once fully fit. The manager\u2019s cautious optimism suggests the club will not rush his return, ensuring he is completely ready before being thrown back into competitive action.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca has provided a promising update on young striker Liam Delap, hinting that the forward could soon\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":202,"featured_media":37230,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[3187,312,3686,3918,3815,1823,3796,1303,3976],"class_list":["post-16318","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-football","tag-blues","tag-chelsea","tag-david-ornstein","tag-english-premier-league","tag-enzo-maresca","tag-fabrizio-romano","tag-football","tag-injury","tag-liam-delap"],"reading_time":"1 min read","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16318","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/202"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16318"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16318\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37230"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}