28 July 2026·By [Paul Vegas](/author/paul-vegas)
Two Chelsea strikers signed within the past year are already facing an uncertain future at the club, with Fabrizio Romano reporting that exits for Liam Delap and Emmanuel Emegha are under consideration should the right offers arrive in the coming weeks.
Both players were bought under previous regimes now gone from Stamford Bridge. Delap arrived from Ipswich last summer as Enzo Maresca's signing, while Emegha's move from Strasbourg was agreed under Maresca too, only for the striker to officially join this summer after a season staying in France to play European football.
Liam Rosenior, who had worked with Emegha at Strasbourg, took over from Maresca in-season but was himself sacked in April, meaning neither forward has played under the manager who signed them for any length of time. Xabi Alonso is now the third head coach to inherit the pair, and neither is currently viewed as untouchable.
Delap turned down Manchester United and Newcastle United to join Chelsea for around £30 million, but managed only two goals in 41 appearances in an injury-interrupted debut season, doing little to establish himself as Chelsea's long-term No 9. Emegha, a 6ft 5in Dutch forward valued at roughly £21.5 million as part of the same summer's spending, has yet to make a competitive appearance for the club at all, having only formally arrived this window.
João Pedro remains first-choice up front and is considered the one senior forward Alonso will not entertain offers for, leaving Delap and Emegha to compete with Nicolás Jackson and Marc Guiu for the remaining places in a squad Chelsea are trying to trim.
Emegha's pre-season has already been complicated by a muscle injury that has kept him out of the club's tour of Australia and Asia. With no European football to help absorb a bloated squad this season, Chelsea's hierarchy appear to have concluded that offloading one or both strikers, even at a loss on their original outlay, is preferable to carrying dead weight through another transfer window.