Former Stoke City star Rory Delap has claimed his long throws could have been worth £20m alone in the transfer market.
Who is Rory Delap?
Back in the late 2000s and early 2010s, the Republic of Ireland midfielder earned himself a reputation as having one of the most feared niche skills in the Premier League.
No, it wasn't a fancy stepover or a thunderous right foot that had defenders scrambling, nor was it an eye for a cute assist or even a penchant for particularly bruising challenges.
Well, we're sure you all remember…
Indeed, his infamous long throw-ins used to terrorise defences time and time again when travelling away to Stoke on those cold, wet and windy nights.
In a recent interview with SPORTbible, the now 46-year-old Delap recalled memories of yesteryear, noting: "We're still talking about it today so I must have done something right.”
Interestingly enough, however, he revealed that instead of spending hours on the training ground with his Stoke teammates working on the set pieces, they'd simply do "two or three on a Friday, the day before a game, same with the corners and the set plays."
Even so, his long throws still frequently caused havoc in opposition boxes – as shown by the fact that Sky Sports have a 4.37 YouTube video dedicated to every goal scored by the Potters thanks to his long throw-ins.
On top of that, Hull City goalkeeper Boaz Myhill once famously gave away a corner out of fear of handing Delap the chance to do damage with a throw-in.
Could Messi do it on a wet and windy night at Stoke?
In the interview, Delap was reminded about how Sir Alex Ferguson once claimed former Stoke midfielder Charlie Adam’s set-pieces were worth £10m.
He was then asked, if this was the case, then how much money would his throw-ins be worth?
“Ahh at least double that,” the 46-year-old said in response, with a huge smile on his face. “I played with Charlie, he had an unbelievable left foot and still does."
On top of all that, he also got onto one of football's biggest questions. Would Lionel Messi struggle on a wet and windy night at Stoke?
Delap certainly seems to think the Argentine would be just fine. He explained: “No, I think the thing you saw with the top players, we made it hard for teams but we never got a result.
“Against [Man] United, they were the top team at the time. With Sir Alex Ferguson, he'd seen it all before with the Wimbledons and the teams of that era. So, you know, he set the team up to go and win and I think they won every game when I was at Stoke so I think the top players don't let stuff like that affect them.
“Arsenal were a great side at that time, maybe it got to them a bit.
“Chelsea, we always struggled against Chelsea. They were the top three teams at that stage. They never really struggled with the cold, wet night there.
"So you're talking about Messi and players like that, I think they're just elite. They're another level. It doesn't matter where they go, they will perform.”
