Football writer Ben Bloom retraces Liam Delap's route from promising rugby player and athlete to one of the Premier League's top strikers, now signed by UEFA Champions League qualifiers Chelsea.
It has always been about size for Liam Delap.
Back in his early teenage years, Delap’s school rugby coach would simply instruct his players to pass the ball to the boy already built like a man and watch opposition players crumble at his imposing stature.
Fast-forward almost a decade and an eye-catching first full Premier League season in which he scored 12 goals for relegated Ipswich Town left rival centre-backs struggling to halt the power of his formidable figure.
The extent of Chelsea’s coup in securing Delap’s signature can be seen in the lengthy list of suitors interested in the 22-year-old.
Including the likes of Manchester United and Newcastle United, around half of the Premier League’s clubs are thought to have considered taking advantage of his bargain £30million release clause.
It was Chelsea who triumphed in the transfer market, acquiring one of English football’s most exciting forwards, who will wear the No 9 shirt for the Blues.
"He’s as good as what there is out there anywhere in the world," said Ipswich manager Kieran McKenna last month.
Bold parting words for a player with the Premier League at his feet.
Keeping it in the family
It was watching from the stands at Stoke City that the spark ignited for Delap to become a professional footballer.
In truth, he didn't need to look far for inspiration.
His father, Rory, made a combined 358 Premier League appearances for Derby County, Southampton, Sunderland and – over five top-flight seasons – Stoke.
An accomplished central midfielder, it was with the ball in hand that Delap senior famously made his name, launching lethal long throw-ins at a fearsome trajectory to such success that he was even asked about potential Olympic javelin aspirations.
"I got to go watch him every week and the atmosphere, the fans, the whole feeling around a football game, it was something that doesn’t leave you," Liam told Sky Sports earlier this year.
"I think it’s something that I always wanted to do, to play in front of a crowd and be a part of those games."
Like his brother Finn – a centre-back at League One side Burton Albion – Liam began his footballing life in the Derby County academy, while also terrifying rival schools on the sports field.
On one occasion, he returned from a football mid-game toilet break to score a hat-trick in the final 10 minutes and secure a 4-3 win over another local school.
He also impressed on the athletics track – where he ran 100m and 200m – and, notably, the rugby pitch.
"He was so quick and strong, the other kids couldn’t handle him," Mark Sellers, Delap’s former head of physical education at The Ecclesbourne School, told the Manchester Evening News.
"It would basically be 15 lads just chasing Liam with a rugby ball in his hand. It was a sight to behold."
By the time he turned 16, and with a number of England age-group appearances under his belt, Delap had done enough to impress Manchester City’s renowned academy, where he was recruited by Joe Shields and Stewart Thompson, both of whom are now at Chelsea.
It was not a move Delap had intended to make, explaining to Sky Sports: "I was happy at Derby but when I actually went to the [Man City] training ground and spoke to everyone about how they saw my future, I think that’s where my mind changed."
Academy supremo
In a mind-bogglingly strong City academy set-up that included the likes of Cole Palmer, Morgan Rogers, James McAtee and Romeo Lavia, Delap impressed as much as anyone.
Click here to zoom in on the graphic
Yellow: Liam Delap; red: Morgan Rogers; blue: Cole Palmer; white: Romeo Lavia; purple: CJ Egan-Riley; green: James McAtee; orange: Taylor Harwood-Bellis
Having been involved in multiple goals for City's Under-18s - including scoring one and assisting two more in their 2019/20 Premier League Cup win – he went on to shine for the Under-21s.
Delap earned the 2020/21 Premier League 2 Player of the Season award after accumulating 24 goals in 20 games – a record in the competition’s history – as City won the PL2 title.
That same season, still aged 17, he scored on his City first-team debut in an EFL Cup win over AFC Bournemouth, becoming the club’s youngest debutant goalscorer for seven years.
A first Premier League appearance followed three days later.
Interestingly, given his new home is Stamford Bridge, it was under now Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca that Delap enjoyed his most prolific season in the City academy.
"He was incredible," Delap recalled of the Italian.
Delap certainly made an impression on Pep Guardiola who, in 2022, described him as "a killer, a typical British striker, an incredible finisher".
With Erling Haaland signed to lead the first-team line, Delap looked elsewhere for game time, spending the 2022/23 campaign on loan at Stoke, where he scored three goals in 24 appearances, and Preston North End, where he added just one more in 15 games.
"They obviously didn’t go as well as I wanted them to," admitted Delap of those temporary moves.
A season-long loan to Hull City then followed, where he impressed with eight goals in the Championship, earning a £20m transfer to Ipswich last summer.
'Impossible to handle'
In what proved to be a difficult campaign for Ipswich, Delap’s stock only rose.
His 12 Premier League goals represented 33 per cent of the team's total – the fourth-highest share of any player in the top tier.
Delap's first goal in Ipswich blue displayed all of his finest attributes, as he picked up the ball just inside the opposition half, drove forward powerfully while shrugging off defenders through the middle of the pitch, and then rifled home.
He repeated a similar trick with another unstoppable run from deep when scoring twice in a 2-2 draw against Aston Villa the following month.
It was such ability that marked Delap out as a unique talent, proving he was not only capable of playing high up the pitch on the defensive line.
"I don’t think there are many clubs in the world who wouldn’t want to have him," said McKenna last month, when confirming that Delap would leave the club after one season.
"He’s got great potential. It’s clear for everyone to see, I think, what he’s done this season for a newly promoted team that’s found it really difficult.
"Not just in his goals, but in some of his performances, where he’s been almost impossible for the opposition to handle."
Discussion has, understandably, turned to potential senior international honours.
With his father Rory earning 11 caps for the Republic of Ireland, Delap could yet follow the same path.
So far, he has stuck to the country of his birth, turning out 12 times for England Under-21s, and last year earning the respect of interim coach Ben Futcher.
"If you want to go and fight him, he will match you," said Futcher. "If you want to race him, he’ll win the race.
"Liam’s a top No 9 and he’s going to keep developing. He has good aggression. He’s an absolute handful."
Chelsea will hope he continues to deliver the goods in west London.
Just do not expect him to copy his dad’s trick of tormenting goalkeepers with long throws.
Delap insists his intimidating presence is far better put to use elsewhere: "I’d rather be in the box trying to score."
