Liam Delp could become 'important player' for England - Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca

Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca has advised Ipswich striker Liam Delp to make it to the England national team.

Maresca knows Delap well and has worked with him during his coaching career at Manchester City.

The Blues have even been linked with a January move for the 21-year-old, who has scored six Premier League goals this season.

“Liam is a fantastic player and also for his age,” Maresca said. I think we spent a year together and I think he scored 22, 24 goals and he is a very good striker.

In England they have many like him and they have many good players, good strikers and he works hard on the ball, plays on the ball and can score goals.

And also because of his age, I think he can be an important player for England.

Chelsea travel to Portman Road on Monday looking to bounce back from their first defeat since October, a 2-1 Boxing Day derby loss to Fulham.

“It’s very important, we want to try to prepare the game in a way that will help us win the game,” Maresca added.

We feel bad about the last game we lost against Fulham and I hope we can come back with three points after this game.

We never thought we’d win every game but now we’ve lost and they just told me we lost on August 18 (against Manchester City).

And then, after two months (second league defeat of the season against Liverpool), then another two months, and we know the reality is that you don’t lose a game every two months.

Now it’s just a matter of how we react and go again.”