Chelsea fear that Liam Delap could be set for an even longer spell on the sidelines with the hamstring injury he picked up against Fulham.
Goals from Joao Pedro and Enzo Fernandez saw Enzo Maresca’s side continue their encouraging start to the season with a 2-0 win over their west London rivals.
However, it was not all positive for the Blues, with summer signing Delap forced off just 14 minutes into his home league debut.
The Englishman pulled up chasing a long ball with what appeared to be a hamstring injury and is now set for a spell on the sidelines.
Speaking shortly after the game, Maresca hinted that Chelsea could be without Delap for around six to eight weeks, adding: ‘Liam’s injury doesn’t look good, it was a full-speed hamstring, that will require weeks.’
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However, The Telegraph report that the club are now fearful that Delap could be sidelined for even longer than two months, having gone straight to hospital after being withdrawn.
Delap is set for another scan early next week to confirm the full extent of the injury.
Those early fears perhaps indicate why Chelsea appear to have pulled the plug on Nicolas Jackson’s proposed loan move to Bayern Munich.
The Senegalese international had already flown to Germany to undergo his medical, but now seems set to return to England to be reintegrated into Maresca’s squad.
‘Chelsea said shortly before the game that they would like the player back after we reached an agreement yesterday,’ said Bayern’s sporting director Max Eberl after Bayern’s 3-2 win over Augsburg.
‘The current situation is that the boy is here in Munich, but we’re sending him back. That’s the current status; I can’t predict the future. I’m not in a position to act now. We would have liked to have done the medical and signed the contract, but that’s not possible now.’
Additional reports suggest that Chelsea could still let Jackson depart, although they are now insisting that it be on a permanent basis to give them the funds to sign a replacement on deadline day.
The Blues are said to have made enquiries regarding a possible bid for Sporting and Denmark centre-forward Conrad Harder.
Harder – who has scored 12 goals in 51 games for Sporting – has also been linked with RB Leipzig, AC Milan, Rennes and Newcastle in recent weeks.
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