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Chelsea have cancelled Nicolas Jackson's proposed loan move to Bayern Munich amid fears Liam Delap could be ruled out for up to eight weeks with a hamstring injury, sources have told ESPN.
Delap limped off with a hamstring injury just 14 minutes into Saturday's 2-0 win over Fulham at Stamford Bridge, secured through João Pedro's header deep into first-half stoppage time and Enzo Fernandez's 56th-minute penalty.
"Hopefully it is not long but this kind of injury, it can be six, eight weeks," Maresca told TNT Sport afterwards.
Any such absence would have left Chelsea with Pedro as their only fit senior centre-forward given Christopher Nkunku has joined AC Milan and Jackson was finalising a loan move to Bayern Munich.
However, sources have told ESPN the west London club have halted Jackson's proposed move despite Bayern agreeing to pay a loan fee of £13 million ($17.5m) with an option to make the move permanent for a fixed fee of £56.25m ($76m). Jackson had travelled to Germany but has been asked to return to London.
Nicolas Jackson looks set to stay at Chelsea after Liam Delap's injury. Michael Regan - FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images
Against Fulham, Maresca opted to use academy graduate Tyrique George up front in Delap's absence, although the 19-year-old has been linked with a departure in the next 48 hours with Roma among the interested clubs.
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Asked if Chelsea had enough options in attack without Delap, Maresca said: "When you have two strikers, it's enough. When one of them is injured for different weeks, probably it's not enough.
"Today we played more than one hour with Tyrique, and he did brilliant. The last game he played as a No. 9 was Man United at home last year. Again, we try to use a different solution.
"If you remember last year, we used Pedro [Neto] in some games as a No. 9. It's because we are always looking for a solution, but for sure when you have two proper number nines, it's enough.
"Liam's injury doesn't look good in terms of, he was full speed, hamstring, so that required, like always, weeks. And then in terms of another striker, to be honest, we just finished the game from the changing room and came here for the press conference, so now after, when we finish, we're going to sit and we'll see if we take any decision. That's all."
Sources have told ESPN that Chelsea are in discussions with Brighton over attacking midfielder Facundo Buonanotte while winger Alejandro Garnacho watched Saturday's game at Stamford Bridge ahead of his £40m move from Manchester United.