It says something that in our 25 minutes with Liam Delap on the 60th floor of Chelsea’s team hotel overlooking Philadelphia, not once do we bring up his old man, Rory.
Sure, we could have asked if he reckons his dad could reach the Rocky Steps from here, but there is no point. Delap is more than the long thrower’s son nowadays. The 22-year-old Englishman is his own person; Chelsea’s brand new No 9 signed from Ipswich Town for £30million less than three weeks ago.
Instead, we are talking how he is a throwback, an old-school striker who echoes Diego Costa in how he plays with an edge, a brute ready to battle as he reveals how he even played through the pain of broken ribs for the final stage of last season with Ipswich.