Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca has revealed Liam Delap is "very close" to a return to training as the striker steps up his return from a hamstring injury.
Delap limped out of the Blues' 2-0 win over Fulham on Aug. 30 and Maresca subsequently ruled out the 22-year-old for up to 12 weeks.
The injury triggered a late transfer window scramble as Chelsea tried and failed to block Nicolas Jackson's move to Bayern Munich before recalling Marc Guiu from his loan spell at Sunderland and deciding against allowing Tyrique George to join Fulham despite negotiating a £22 million ($29.4m) move.
Chelsea only had João Pedro to call on as a recognised senior striker but speaking on Tuesday ahead of the Blues' Champions League clash against Ajax, Maresca hinted that Delap, a £30m summer signing from Ipswich Town, could now return ahead of schedule.
"Liam is very close," he said. "He is not working with us yet, he is still out but hopefully he can start in the next days to take part in the session with us."
Maresca refused to confirm who would lead the line against Ajax with Pedro suspended after his red card against Benfica in their last Champions League outing.
"We have him [Marc], we have also Tyrique who has played games as a nine in the past," Maresca said. "He did well. He played I think against Benfica as a nine. We have different options. We have one more session this afternoon and then we decide.
"We trust Marc. We trust already last year, he was always playing in the Conference [League]. We also gave him some Premier League games so we show in the past that we trust Marc. Now he is again with us and he is going to play games for sure."
Maresca once again denied Chelsea have a discipline problem after his team picked up a fifth red card in six matches as Malo Gusto was sent off at Nottingham Forest last weekend.
Included in that run was Maresca's own red card -- earned against Liverpool just before the international break after celebrating their dramatic stoppage-time winner by running down the touchline -- and the Italian insisted he was not interested in punishing his players.
- Maresca 'very sorry' for Postecoglou after Forest sacking
- Chelsea ratings: Neto earns 8/10 in win at Nottingham Forest
"For sure it is something that we can do better," he said. "I think some of the red cards, we could avoid that. For example, the Malo one is completely avoidable. It is 3-0, the game is finished.
"But also, the other side, they don't want to concede, they want to continue to be aggressive. For sure, when you concede five or six red cards, there is something we have to improve and it is something we are for sure going to improve.
"[But] personally, I'm not that kind of manager to punish players. I don't think in my view it is the right way to do things. I prefer to help them understand and then from there to do the right things. João Pedro was [in the] last minutes of the game. Malo was [in the] last minutes of the game. So it depends, they are all different kinds of red cards. But if you concede four or five, it is something you have to do better.
"I have four kids. When they do something wrong, I don't punish them. I try to push them to do the right things and I try to treat the players in the same way: try to help them to understand and not to punish them. This is the way I see things -- it can be right, wrong, I don't know -- but it is the way I like to do things."
Enzo Fernández could return to the squad after returning from international duty with Argentina suffering from inflammation in his right knee.