Former Chelsea star Joe Cole says new signing Liam Delap can form a lethal striking partnership with Nicolas Jackson and fire the club back to the top.
Chelsea paid £30 million for Delap, who turned down offers from Manchester United to move to Stamford Bridge.
Delap’s arrival now means Jackson, signed from Villarreal two seasons ago, faces competition for his spot in the starting XI as Chelsea looks to get back to challenging for major trophies.
But Joe Cole, who won three Premier League titles with the Blues, believes Delap's arrival could serve as a wake-up call for Jackson and help bring out the best in him.
He told Telecom Asia in an exclusive interview:
Delap's signing is fantastic for Nicolas Jackson because you now have two young, hungry centre-forwards vying for a place. They have to grow together and mature together, and what people may not be considering is the fact that they could play together at some point in the season.
And that will be interesting- watching two big, strong, fast strikers occupying two centre-halves. I think it's a great thing for Chelsea, and it’s going to help both of them mature. The one that matures quicker, It’s like having two great horses in a race, you can only win. Fantastic.
Delap announced his arrival with a pinpoint assist for Enzo Fernandez, who scored Chelsea’s second goal in their 2-0 win over LAFC in the ongoing Club World Cup.
He then followed it up with a promising performance in the 3-1 defeat to Flamengo.
Senegalese forward Jackson also bagged an assist, making a reverse pass into the path of forward Pedro Neto, who left his marker on the floor before firing past the goalkeeper for Chelsea’s opening goal.
But he was then left on the bench for the game against Flamengo - where he ended up being sent off for a moment of rush blood four minutes after coming on.
Chelsea will now hope to bounce back when they take on Tunis after the defeat to Flamengo.
Manager Enzo Maresca secured Champions League football for next season and topped that with a UEFA Conference League win, making Chelsea the only club to have won all the major European trophies.
With their past triumphs in the Champions League and Europa League, they will now hope that their new squad develops the same hunger and dominance to shine both domestically and in Europe.
To do that, though, their two young strikers, Jackson and Delap, will need to develop into lethal finishers to lead the team to glory.
