Exclusive
LAP OF HONOUR
Inside Liam Delap’s stunning rise from learning gymnastics as a kid to being BANNED from copying dad’s famous throw-ins
Delap was part of a stellar England under-16 side
LIAM Delap’s size and skill marked him out for greatness by the time he was nine.
But his phenomenal competitiveness was the key to turning him into one of European football’s most exciting strikers.
19
19
19
19
On Sunday he faces Manchester City - the club that decided to sell him to Ipswich for £20million last summer.
Despite Thursday’s 2-0 home defeat by Brighton, the Tractor Boys are hoping Delap’s goals can fire them to Prem safety.
The Winchester-born star joined Derby County’s academy in 2009 - the same time Darren Wassall took charge of the youth set up there.
And by the time the youngster could register formally as an under-nine, the Rams knew they had something special.
READ MORE FOOTBALL NEWS
Wassall told SunSport: “We had American owners and we had to do a presentation in 2011 or 2012 to say, in each age group, who were the top three players we thought could get through to scholarship.
“We’ve still got the slides of when Liam was an under-nine or under-10 and he was one of the three.”
All-rounder Delap tried his hands at plenty of sports while at school.
Sprinting built his speed. Gymnastics helped make his large frame strong and agile.
Most read in Football
CASINO SPECIAL - BEST CASINO BONUSES FROM £10 DEPOSITS
And doing a bit of javelin fed into his ability to do impressive long throws like his dad - former Stoke, Southampton and Derby midfielder Rory - until parents of other children complained that his bombs were spoiling games and he stopped doing them.
In any case, Delap’s attributes were more valuable in the penalty area than from the sideline.
BBC pundit names England's long-term successor to Harry Kane after Premier League star's 'bullying' performance
19
19
19
19
Wassall said: “He was always among the biggest and most powerful players in his age group, and probably the age group above.
“He could bustle his way through and had a really good strike with his laces. He could put one in from 20 yards, or 30 yards as he grew older.
“But what really set him apart was his desire to compete.”
Sometimes Delap’s will to win went too far.
Wassall said: “Off the pitch he was likeable, so modest and humble and quiet.
“The pitch was his stage, it was like a switch being flicked.
“He was fearless. He didn’t mind getting hurt. He would go into the six-yard box with goalkeepers and defenders, where the boots were flying.
“But his competitiveness was also a challenge for us.
“He was so on the edge at times because he was so desperate to win, do well and score goals, that it boiled over.
“Mainly he would challenge decisions, mostly in a good way, but there were times when we had to step in and bring him off for his own sake.
“We had to show him that you can’t boil over because if you’re playing for the first team and do that, you will get sent off, miss three games and be no good to anybody.”
Derby also made sure that Delap did not rely too much on his physical attributes.
He would play in higher age groups and worked hard on his technique.
Wassall said: “I remember watching him as an under-14 or under-15, playing for the under-16s, and he scored five goals against Sunderland, I think it was.
“Every finish was different.”
19
19
19
19
In 14 years at Derby, Wassall oversaw the development of more than 40 players who went on to clock up more than 1,200 first-team appearances for the Rams between them
But Delap did not follow the same path as Willl Hughes, Jeff Hendrick and others.
He was attracting the attention of clubs across Europe, including Bayern Munich,
And one day Wassall had to call dad Rory, by now a coach in the Derby Academy himself, to tell him that Manchester City were in for his son.
Wassall, now head of youth development at the EFL, said: “It was bittersweet because we wanted him to go on to the first team.
“He was part of the Derby family. His younger brother Finn was there too and Rory was working there.
“But it was a no-brainer for him to go.”
19
Delap’s move to City in 2019 was a big step in his football education.
19
Kevin Betsy, the former Fulham, Barnsley and Wycombe striker, was the teenager’s head coach for four years at international level.
And Betsy saw Delap develop in confidence and all-round performance after initially being called up to England’s under-15s .
Betsy told Sun Sport: “There were a lot of players in the squad from high-level clubs, your Liverpool’s, Man United’s and Chelsea’s.
“Derby is a fantastic academy but they were in the EFL. That can come with a feeling of, ‘Am I good enough to be with this level of player?’
“In the initial under-15 camps he probably didn’t show his true level.”
But in his final year at Derby and his first with CIty, Delap was part of a stellar England under-16 side featuring Jude Bellingham, Jamal Musiala, Harvey Elliott and Levi Colwill.
One of many highlights was scoring in a 4-0 win over Brazil that infuriated the South Americans so much that they had two players sent off.
19
19
Betsy said: “The move to City bumped him up to a different level technically and tactically because of the way they played in their academy.
“City would often use the No 9 as a focal point in the build-up. Liam was receiving a lot of balls to feet with his back to goal and dropping deeper than a natural No 9, in order to link up the game.
“His hold-up play improved a lot and that was fantastic when he came in to the national team.”
But not so fantastic when Betsy moved on to work with Arsenal’s under-23 side and found himself coaching against Delap.
Betsy added: “I remember a 3-3 draw against City at the Emirates.
“You could tell your players what to expect from the opponents.
“But he scored two goals, one of them out of nothing, and set up the other. He was getting too good for PL2.”
City thought so, too. Delap scored on his senior CIty debut in the Carabao Cup in 2020 when he was 17 but was sent out on loan to Stoke and Preston in 2022/3, and to Hull last season.
19
Betsy said: “A couple of the loans probably didn’t go as well as he would have liked.
“But he would have grown stronger from those moments.
“He would have understood what it takes to be a first-team player in league football, what that feels like.
“Having a chance in front of a huge crowd is a different pressure.
“If you see some of the goals, there were flashes of the Liam Delap of the future.”
Ipswich saw enough to splash out an initial £15m to sign Delap last summer.
But City inserted a buyback clause and Betsy would not be surprised if the 21 year old found his way back to the club that Ipswich face on Sunday.
Betsy, now a first-team coach at QPR focusing on individual development, said: “There’s no ceiling to what Liam can achieve.
“Liam will be a player for England, a centre-forward, and, if he doesn't achieve it at Ipswich, at a high-level team in the Premier League.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
“For me, he’s good enough for Man City.
“As a back-up to Erling Haaland at the moment, but if he moved on, Liam would be next.”
19
19
Topics