It hasn’t been the straightest of paths for Fabian Delph.
Marked for superstardom as a teenager, the 24-year-old’s way has nevertheless been as hard as it’s been smooth—an occasionally easy road interrupted by trouble, like a piece of music punctuated by the mistakes of one who hasn’t yet learned the instrument.
As an 18-year-old he was handed a four-year contract at Leeds United, to which he responded by scoring his first senior goal the very next day. Two months later he was caught driving drunk, although the suspension of his license only seemed to enhance his football as he went on to be crowned Football League Young Player of the Year for 2008-09.
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It was a feat he turned into a move to Aston Villa the following summer. And while he didn’t exactly hit the ground running in the West Midlands (the jump from League One to the Premier League is considerable), whatever development he might have anticipated was put to the side in April 2010 when he suffered a cruciate ligament tear that would keep him out of action for nearly a year.
Twelve months after that he picked up an ankle injury and spent a further chunk of time on the sidelines.
All in all, it wasn’t until last season that Delph’s play was reminiscent of the talented youngster who so tantalized at Elland Road.
Finally healthy after playing his way back to fitness during the 2012-13 campaign, he kicked off the 2013-14 programme with a standout display against Arsenal in which his combativeness and bursts on the dribble (he left each of Bacary Sagna, Santi Cazorla, Thomas Rosicky and Aaron Ramsey in his wake over the 90 minutes) were a primary factor in Villa’s surprise 3-1 win at Emirates Stadium.
Then, for the first time in his Premier League career, he managed to string a series of similarly impressive performances together that culminated in a spectacular, left-footed goal away to Southampton in December.
“I’d love him to get called up, even if he just got into the [England] squad,” remarked Villa manager Paul Lambert last autumn. “He’s a kid who’s a good guy to work with and the way he’s been playing his enthusiasm and his drive has been excellent. I’d be delighted if he got picked.”
It wasn’t until last week’s friendly against Norway that Delph took his England bow.
Injury problems and maturity issues well behind him, he replaced the disappointing Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain midway through the second half at Wembley and contributed to England’s brightest passage of the match, misplacing just a single pass over his 21 minutes.
He must have done enough to leave an impression on manager Roy Hodgson, for when the 67-year-old named his team for Monday’s Euro 2016 qualifier against Switzerland he included the Villa man in his XI—on the left-hand side of a midfield triangle.
It’s a role Delph thrived in at Basel’s St. Jakob-Park, even after an early booking and exhibition of reckless, first-half tackling seemed to have him living on the edge.
Once he settled, however, there was scarcely a player in a white shirt who so committed himself to the cause. In addition to again misplacing just a single pass (this time over the full 90 minutes) Delph also aided left-back Leighton Baines in the marking of Xherdan Shaqiri, who took only a single shot during the match.
It was a complete display that won’t have shocked Lambert in the least.
“I think it was well-deserved that he’s got in the national team,” the 45-year-old said on Monday. “This season he’s started really well and he deserves to be given a chance…Fabian won’t let anyone down.”
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Delph, for his part, makes no bones about the fact that the early years of his career were rather topsy-turvy. It just so happens that the path-and-journey allegory is one he, himself, buys into, which is hardly surprising given the twists and turns he has taken along the way.
“The start of my career was dreadful,” he recently told the Daily Mail when asked about his beginnings in professional football. “It’s been a tough road.”
But it’s one that will only get straighter and easier as he puts in the work, which, given that his contract is up in the spring, shouldn’t take much coaxing.
Delph’s may have been a difficult road so far, but you just get the feeling that’s he’s finally crested the hill—and on the other side, the endless possibilities he was aiming for in the first place.
Jerrad Peters is a Winnipeg-based writer. Follow him on Twitter.