Liam Delap hands Chelsea £94m transfer dilemma after Enzo Maresca hits out at summer controversy

Chelsea look to have their first piece of summer business over the line already. Liam Delap has informed them of his preference to move to Stamford Bridge over other options, football.london understands.

The former Manchester City academy graduate only signed with the Tractor Boys last year.

After an impressive first full season in the top flight, Delap has been one of the players to watch due to his age, strong performances, and price. With 12 goals at a struggling side, Delap was one of the few bright sparks under Kieran McKenna.

However, there are complications on the horizon.

The 22-year-old is set to feature for England at the Under-21 European Championship this summer. The tournament starts next month with a training squad named by Lee Carsley last week.

Delap is one of many standout names including Tino Livramento, Jarell Quansah, Elliot Anderson, Jobe Bellingham, Archie Gray, Jack Hinshelwood, Harvey Elliot, James McAtee, Ethan Nwaneri, and Ipswich teammate Omari Hutchinson to be named in the initial group. That will be cut down to 23 players by June 6 but Delap is firmly in the mix to travel to Slovakia.

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This is where things get interesting. If Chelsea are to complete a deal for Delap before the start of the Euros (which he qualifies for having been 21 when the season began), then they could feasibly be against his involvement.

Although this would be a surprise given his insistence on deciding now, before the tournament, to ensure a smooth transition, there would be some logic behind it. Chelsea also have summer commitments coming up.

They will be participating in the FIFA Club World Cup in America across June and July.

It poses logistical questions for Chelsea, who have transfer activity to carry out and players to look after. With just one month separating the end of the Club World Cup and the start of the Premier League in mid-August, a tour of the North America, Australia, or Asia, as would often be carried out, is not possible.

The tiny gap between Wednesday's Conference League final and the first group game in Atlanta on Monday, June 16, means that rest will have to be split between now and after the Club World Cup. For Maresca, it is a new challenge.

"Ten days where we need to recover energy. And then we're going to start the Club World Cup. The target, to be honest, is go game by game. Try to go step by step. But in this moment, we don't have any target for the Club World Cup.

"Now the only target is to recover energy because the season has been very long. Don't forget that we started the conference in the play-off, not even in the group. And it has been a long season."

Maresca has already spoken out against the planning, suggesting it could cause more injuries and be a serious threat to player welfare. FIFA, meanwhile, are pushing for clubs to use a strong team throughout in order to boost the attraction of their new (and hopeful) showpiece event.

What has this got to do with Delap? Well, Chelsea are keen to use the Club World Cup as part of their pre-season despite it coming so soon after the end of the yet to fully finish current campaign. The Champions League final is still to be played, which usually adds a full stop to things.

By the time Inter and Paris Saint-Germain face off in Munich, Chelsea will almost be back on training pitch again. Delap, on the other hand, will be readying himself for the Euros.

England's first game in Slovakia is on Thursday, June 12. Delap and England then play three days later against the hosts with Chelsea going to Philadelphia to meet Flamengo on Friday, June 20.

The last Under-21s Euros group game in on June 18, with Chelsea staying in Philadelphia for their final scheduled game against Tunisie on June 25. In theory, if Delap was to go to the Euros and crash out of the group (which would be a shock given England are the defending champions), he could travel to USA at this stage to play for Chelsea.

If not, then there is still a chance later on. The Euros quarter-finals are on June 21 and 22. The Club World Cup has last-16 games in for June 28/29. The Euros semi-finals are on June 25 with the Club World Cup quarter-finals on July 4/5. There is room here for Delap to play for Chelsea if all parties agreed on it.

Although it would be strenuous on him, it cannot be totally ruled out, especially for the back end. Players are often parachuted into pre-season games and the same method could be used here. It would be an extreme version of those joining up with their club sides on tour after a major international tournament.

The difference is that it would effectively cut out any serious chance of a holiday for Delap.

Most other clubs will already be in their pre-season swing at that stage but Chelsea will surely need to afford more time off for their players before going on a crash course under Maresca, squeezing rest periods and pre-season into a condensed calendar. Delap and other players have to fit into this somewhere.

The final of the Euros is on June 28 which would leave Delap the quarter-finals onwards in America with Chelsea, if things worked out that way. The Club World Cup semi-finals are set for July 8 or 9 in New York with the final on July 13 at the same venue.

The dilemma for Chelsea is that this would be a valuable opening to integrate Delap into the squad with the potential for a minimum of four weeks. Even if he went all the way with England, there is the potential for two weeks in America with his new team. That would be a great strain on him, though.

Chelsea are planning to add Dario Essugo and Andrey Santos for the Club World Cup. Djordje Petrovic could also be included. What happens with Delap will be intriguing. Asking him to miss the Euros with England appears unlikely given the plan to make a decision ahead of the competition, but nothing about this summer is by the book for Chelsea.