Liam Delap is the latest Chelsea player to cast his mind back to his early days in the sport in our regular feature.
As the son of ex-Premier League footballer Rory Delap, football featured heavily throughout Liam's early years. After coming through the ranks at Derby County, where Rory had been a player, Liam turned professional himself at Manchester City before moving on to Ipswich Town and now Chelsea.
Here the striker looks back over the years to answer our quickfire questions...
**What's the first pair of football boots you can remember owning?**
A pair of Preds, and then my first Nike boots were Mercurials.
**What's the first kit you ever had as a kid?**
Probably a Stoke City kit.
**What player did you most look up to?**
It would have to be my dad, but if I wasn’t choosing him then it would be Ronaldo.
**What’s the first team you remember playing for?**
Duffield Dynamo.
**Do you remember the first bit of advice you received from your coaches there?**
I was really young, about five, so not really. But the first bit of advice I can remember is to just stay humble and work hard.
**Who was the first friend you remember from football?**
I went to school with and played football with a guy called Alex Hare. I still speak to him every day. He’s in America now, so when we were at the Club World Cup, he came to a few of the games.
**Who was your first room-mate you remember on away trips when you turned professional?**
With England youth teams it was Harvey Vale and at \[Manchester\] City it was always James McAtee.
**Harvey played for Chelsea too. What was he like as a room-mate?**
He was sensible and looked after me. He was the captain, so he took care of me.
**How well do you remember your professional debut?**
Very well. It was against Bournemouth in the Carabao Cup. There were no fans because of Covid, but I scored, so it was a great start.
**Can you remember the first time someone recognised you in public?**
I'm not really sure, but my dad got stopped for selfies and autographs quite a bit when I was with him when I was younger.
**Lastly, what was your first emotion when you signed for Chelsea?**
I was just so excited.