Shawcross, 21, is suffering agony with his knees due to an amazing growth spurt and trains only once a week, but Delap insists his team-mate has what it takes to become an England star. Playing for City's U21s against the Mansfield first team in the EFL Trophy, Delap scored two goals and laid on an assist in a 3-0 win for the youngsters over far more senior opponents. He also possesses an eye-catching turn of speed as well as being a fantastic finisher when he gets a sight of goal, with Pep Guardiola just the latest to become a fan of the teenager. The Borussia Dortmund forward's journey from unknown teenager to becoming one of Europe's most feared strikers proved to be one of the storylines of the last campaign, and fans around the world are hopeful that their own club has a potential superstar on their books who is about to emerge from their academy ranks. His father, Rory Delap, made 359 appearances in the English top-flight for Derby County, Southampton, Stoke City and Sunderland, becoming something of a cult hero during his time at Stoke after routinely striking fear into opposition defences with his outrageous long throws under Tony Pulis. Clasico decline encapsulates La Liga's problems with the Premier League, tax and Covid-19. His dismissal helped allow Derby to fight back and earn a 3-3 draw. Stoke suffered a battering at Old Trafford last season before a heart-breaking late defeat in their own backyard last December. Wenger wrote a letter to the Football Association shortly after Stoke won promotion to the Premier League in 2008, complaining that Delap’s missiles just weren’t fair. So why not be able to kick the ball in when in your own half? He just goes quiet when people ask him about it. That’s 25 times when you are going to keep possession or lose possession. In our daily Stoke City bulletin, we'll be bringing you the latest breaking news, transfer features and comment pieces, as well as the key talking points for fans. “I’ve coached some teams that only wanted to practise long throws close to the opponents’ goal, but my philosophy is to practise across the entire field. Still, that determination has helped Delap force his way into the thoughts of Guardiola and his coaches. He said: “Ryan is definitely good enough for England. “That's why I believe we always have to think how can we make the game quicker and more spectacular? “There’s no doubting Ryan’s ability, he’s going to play at the top. We just hope we can hang on to him.”. When he hung up his big coat and took up his job at Fifa, one of his first drives was to try to change the rules so that players could be offside from throws. Arsene Wenger is still banging the drum about throw-ins, more than a decade after Rory Delap and Stoke City’s squadron of players who wanted to … “Liam has improved a lot since I started working with him – he’s improved no end,” City's former Under-18s coach, Gareth Taylor, said in March. With Sergio Aguero out and set to miss at least the opening two months of the season through injury, Delap was named as the only out-and-out striker among the substitutes for City's Premier League opener against Wolves. Delap began training with City's first-team squad midway through the summer to help fill out the numbers, but he has already been fast-tracked into Guardiola's planning for the new campaign after impressing the Catalan and his staff. - Rory Delap (@RoryJDelap) May 22, 2020 It's not everyday that you have an ex-pro acknowledge your work and George remarked that his reaction was a … Arsenal are behaving totally opposite to Stoke City and fans have my sympathy, 'We used to love Arsenal' - Liam Lawrence opens up on Tony Pulis' Stoke City vision, Grizzled number nine Steven Fletcher on three months in France which changed his game, Free agent summer signing Steven Fletcher has made a positive impression in his first few weeks at Stoke City, No one in the Championship will fancy playing Stoke City, Talking points from a 3-2 win for Stoke City over Brentford, EFL blast 'perplexing' stance as Stoke City continue to play behind closed doors, Games in the EFL and the Premier League are being held in empty stadiums due to the coronavirus pandemic, Striker names Stoke's Ryan Shawcross and Chelsea's Thiago Silva in top three hardmen, Former Huddersfield forward Steven Mounie has been looking back at his time in England and recalling duels with the centre-backs who he named as the toughest, Mad inconsistency as Brentford to screen Stoke City match at own stadium, Championship has been played behind closed doors since June, Michael O'Neill on 'terrific' Nathan Collins as Stoke City's starting XI comes down 1.4 years and £29m in 12 months, Stoke City manager now has to prepare side to travel to Swansea City on Tuesday, Stoke City show their teeth as Championship starts to take shape, Stoke City were aggressive in every sense in team performance with stand out individuals to beat Brentford, What we learned from Port Vale's 2-1 win at Oldham, Port Vale are up to tenth after a brilliant first-half performance helped them see off Oldham, Tyrese Campbell and James McClean double act gives defender one of hardest afternoons of career, Wide players on their right sides help Michael O'Neill on his journey into Stoke City folklore, Live: Police called to Stoke-on-Trent street as officers deal with incident, A number of police cars and ambulances were at the scene, Police called to group of youths who were 'clearly not adhering to rule of six', Police are asking people to ensure their children are complying with Covid-19 regulations, Mum accidentally names twins after TV characters - now she's being mocked, Other parents were quick to reassure her that she could call her children whatever she likes and shouldn't worry what others think, Ten areas of North Staffordshire with most new confirmed Covid-19 cases in seven days, Five areas of Stoke-on-Trent, three of the Staffordshire Moorlands and two of Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough had 23 or more new coronavirus cases confirmed in the week up to October 19, Thief who lives in a tent behind Wilko caught stealing from town centre Boots store (plus 7 other court cases), Other cases include a Bentilee man who had admitted dealing drugs, a disqualified driver caught behind the wheel while over the drug limit and a 32-year-old who had a knife in the city centre, Two more coronavirus patients die at Royal Stoke as second wave tightens its grip, There are now 113 coronavirus patients being cared for at Royal Stoke and Stafford's County Hospital, 127 new coronavirus cases confirmed in Stoke-on-Trent in latest 24-hour update - the highest number since the second wave hit, It comes as Stoke-on-Trent was placed in Tier 2  yesterday banning people from mixing with other households inside, Family's lunch out in Hanley ends in chaos as druggie smashes through door after being attacked - just missing young child, Young mum shamed for way she held baby in Lidl - but says she won't stop, Isobel Harrod described the man as patronising, Sports Direct has now opened its latest Stoke-on-Trent store, Shoppers are happy to see the unit occupied again, Bar owner slams police after blundering bailiff breaks into North Staffordshire venue by mistake, The businessman has accused Staffordshire Police of not doing enough, 'I could have killed someone' Warehouse worker takes dad's car without permission after drinking half a bottle of vodka - and writes it off, And he hasn't even passed his driving test, Meet the North Staffordshire bagel-baking mum who launched lockdown business after redundancy, Holy Bread bagels are baked from Caroline's home kitchen, in Leek, Police hope to trace pet owner after lost dog found, Thousands of Stoke-on-Trent and North Staffordshire residents sign Marcus Rashford's petition to end child food poverty, The petition, started by Premier League footballer Marcus Rashford, states that 'no child should be going hungry', Closing down sales at two big name retailers as they prepare to shut North Staffordshire branches, Shoppers say it is a 'shame' that the stores are closing, Thousands of North Staffordshire pupils are missing school (and here's a list of the latest schools to be hit by coronavirus cases), The snapshot of school attendance shows a greater proportion of secondary students were out of the classroom that primary pupils.