Liam Delap insists he will “never regret” moving to Chelsea but says it was “a bit rubbish” spending time in the infamous ‘bomb squad’ before his move to Nottingham Forest was finalised.

Delap joined Chelsea last summer when they triggered the £30million relegation release clause in his Ipswich Town contract, yet the Englishman underwhelmed at Stamford Bridge and scored only three goals in 47 appearances.

The Blues then sold the 23-year-old to Forest for £45m plus £5m in add-ons this summer. Delap had been training with a small group of outgoing first-team players during Chelsea’s pre-season and the first couple of games of their season, rather than working with new manager Xabi Alonso and his squad.

“Obviously it’s a bit rubbish going to train away from the group, but I think I’ve got really good people around me,” Delap said in an interview with The Telegraph.

“My dad [Rory, the former Stoke and Ireland midfielder] has been through it all, and you hear everything that happens in football, so nothing surprises you.

“That good culture that I’ve got around me helped and it’s just about keeping your head down. Only do what you can do right because if you do something bad then it will only be negative on you.”

Delap’s move to Chelsea went down as a failed experiment at the west London club, but the Forest man made clear he has no regrets about his initial decision to move to Chelsea when other clubs such as Everton and Manchester United were also interested following an impressive individual campaign with Ipswich in the Premier League.

“You have your ups and downs, and I’ll never regret doing anything because it just shapes me as a person,” Delap said.

“I’m still only young and not everyone is on a linear path. I learned so much from Chelsea. Even when I was on loan at Stoke and Preston, they didn’t work out football-wise but they taught me so much.

“Sometimes you learn and benefit more when things are not going well.”

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