Chelsea have discovered the timeline Liam Delap will spend in treatment room as the English forward aims to return to first-team football with in time for the busy festive period.
Delap suffered a hamstring injury in the 2-0 win over Fulham on August 30, sparking the club into immediate action. The incident occurred just hours after Chelsea sanctioned the departure of Nicolas Jackson to Bayern Munich on a season-long loan deal.
After initially demanding that Nicolas Jackson return before signing with Bayern Munich, the Blues backtracked and ended up recalling Marc Guiu from Sunderland instead. The 19-year-old striker could be involved in the coming weeks, with Delap sidelined until at least November.
Liam Delap celebrates scoring his team’s fourth goal during the pre-season friendly match between Chelsea and AC Milan at Stamford Bridge on August 10, 2025 in London, England. (Photo by Richard Pelham/Getty Images)
It was previously thought that the England under-21 international would be out for ‘six to eight weeks’, but latest report from The Athletic claim the prognosis is now 10 weeks.
However, there is some good news, with Delap not requiring surgery on the injury, meaning he should be able to return to training in November.
The 22-year-old will miss the start of Chelsea’s Champions League campaign and could miss as many as 10 Premier League matches. But he should be available by the time December arrives and the fixture schedule ramps up even more.
Chelsea have also announced that Dario Essugo has undergone surgery on a thigh injury. The 20-year-old midfielder suffered the injury while playing for Portugal under-21s and is now set for a sustained spell on the sidelines.
Enzo Maresca will now rely on Joao Pedro to lead the line in Delap’s absence with Guiu expected to the be the backup.
Pedro who was signed from Brighton for £60m this summer, has two goals and two assists in three league games so far this season. He scored in the 5-1 win over West Ham and the 2-0 victory over Fulham and Guiu will also be eager to be on the pitch when Chelsea face Brentford this weekend.
Guiu has six goals in 16 appearances for Chelsea so far, with all of his strikes coming in the Conference League last season as Maresca’s side won the competition.
