‘Gutted’ Liam Delap turns to unusual new hobby to keep busy during Chelsea injury lay-off

Chelsea striker Liam Delap has turned to a rather unusual method of keeping occupied during his stint on the sidelines. Rather than play video games or lounge around watching movies, the 22-year-old is doing his best impression of David Copperfield. Delap has nine appearances for Chelsea to his name, having joined in June.Getty Speaking to talkSPORT’s Shebahn Aherne on Weekend Breakfast, Liam’s father and Premier League cult hero Rory Delap lifted the lid on how the Chelsea forward has filled his time. What has Liam Delap done to stay busy whilst injured? “I think he’s gutted obviously with the injury, especially at the start of his career there,” Delap said. “But it’s part and parcel of the game. He’s got a strong head on him and he’s focused on the recovery now. “The toughest thing for us is trying to keep him amused because he gets bored very easily. “He’s learning magic tricks and doing maths things I can’t get my head around. “Just trying to keep his day full once he’s not at the club and finished his rehab.” Delap’s revelation about his son’s love for maths comes in the wake of a viral clip which showed the Chelsea summer signing correctly answering the cubed root of large numerical figures. The senior Delap, who made nearly 360 Premier League appearances across stints at Stoke City, Derby County, Southampton and Sunderland, jokingly added: “Yeah, he gets that (maths skills) from me! “I hope the milk man wasn’t good at it. “It’s weird, he’s always had it. We were on holiday once and around a table, he started doing sums and times tables. He was doing the calculations quicker than we could do it on the calculator on the phone. Delap is equally adept at his times tables as he is on the football pitchGetty “I have no idea where it came from. He found maths really easy at school and it’s a bit of a party trick as well.” How did Delap sustain his injury? Delap won’t be short of time to continue his pursuit of becoming a human calculator given he faces up to 12 weeks on the sidelines with a hamstring injury. The striker went down after just 14 minutes of action in Chelsea’s 2-0 win over Fulham on August 30. Although Blues boss Enzo Maresca was reluctant to put a timeline on Delap’s time out following the win, he revealed the grim news about how long he expected to be without the striker prior to his side’s 2-2 draw with Brentford last Saturday. “Liam is out for around 10 to 12 weeks,” Maresca said. “It’s a long way to go.” Delap’s injury could force him out of 17 matches for the BluesGetty Delap’s injury was not the start he anticipated to his Chelsea career following his £30million arrival from Ipswich Town in the summer. The powerful striker joined in time for the Blues’ Club World Cup campaign, where he provided an assist on debut in a 2-0 win over MLS outfit LAFC. Delap bagged his first – and only – goal for Chelsea in their third and final group match, a 3-0 win over Esperance. Although he didn’t register another goal or assist at the tournament, it mattered little as Chelsea went on to become world champions with a dominant 3-0 win over Paris Saint-Germain in the final.

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‘Gutted’ Liam Delap turns to unusual new hobby to keep busy during Chelsea injury lay-off

Chelsea striker Liam Delap has turned to a rather unusual method of keeping occupied during his stint on the sidelines.

Rather than play video games or lounge around watching movies, the 22-year-old is doing his best impression of David Copperfield.

Delap has nine appearances for Chelsea to his name, having joined in June.

Speaking to talkSPORT’s Shebahn Aherne on Weekend Breakfast, Liam’s father and Premier League cult hero Rory Delap lifted the lid on how the Chelsea forward has filled his time.

What has Liam Delap done to stay busy whilst injured?

“I think he’s gutted obviously with the injury, especially at the start of his career there,” Delap said.

“But it’s part and parcel of the game. He’s got a strong head on him and he’s focused on the recovery now.

“The toughest thing for us is trying to keep him amused because he gets bored very easily.

“He’s learning magic tricks and doing maths things I can’t get my head around.

“Just trying to keep his day full once he’s not at the club and finished his rehab.”

Delap’s revelation about his son’s love for maths comes in the wake of a viral clip which showed the Chelsea summer signing correctly answering the cubed root of large numerical figures.

The senior Delap, who made nearly 360 Premier League appearances across stints at Stoke City, Derby County, Southampton and Sunderland, jokingly added: “Yeah, he gets that (maths skills) from me!

“I hope the milk man wasn’t good at it.

“It’s weird, he’s always had it. We were on holiday once and around a table, he started doing sums and times tables. He was doing the calculations quicker than we could do it on the calculator on the phone.

Delap is equally adept at his times tables as he is on the football pitch

“I have no idea where it came from. He found maths really easy at school and it’s a bit of a party trick as well.”

How did Delap sustain his injury?

Delap won’t be short of time to continue his pursuit of becoming a human calculator given he faces up to 12 weeks on the sidelines with a hamstring injury.

The striker went down after just 14 minutes of action in Chelsea’s 2-0 win over Fulham on August 30.

Although Blues boss Enzo Maresca was reluctant to put a timeline on Delap’s time out following the win, he revealed the grim news about how long he expected to be without the striker prior to his side’s 2-2 draw with Brentford last Saturday.

“Liam is out for around 10 to 12 weeks,” Maresca said.

“It’s a long way to go.”

Delap’s injury could force him out of 17 matches for the Blues

Delap’s injury was not the start he anticipated to his Chelsea career following his £30million arrival from Ipswich Town in the summer.

The powerful striker joined in time for the Blues’ Club World Cup campaign, where he provided an assist on debut in a 2-0 win over MLS outfit LAFC.

Delap bagged his first – and only – goal for Chelsea in their third and final group match, a 3-0 win over Esperance.

Although he didn’t register another goal or assist at the tournament, it mattered little as Chelsea went on to become world champions with a dominant 3-0 win over Paris Saint-Germain in the final.