Leeds United ace was rejected by England for crazy reason, now he’s ready to make his mark in the Premier League

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Leeds United players are looking ahead to a campaign in the Premier League again next season, and there’s one player in particular who really deserves to be in the top flight thanks to his form of late.

For the most part this season, Leeds United have been utterly dominant in the second tier and are more than deserving winners of the Championship title.

It took some doing in the end, though, especially thanks to a slight dip in form and the relentless nature of Burnley’s own title charge.

It’s been a campaign in which Daniel Farke has been doubted, while the Leeds players were also claimed to be falling apart again, but they got over the line, and it’s a happy ending for everyone involved.

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What was said about Ethan Ampadu as a teenager

We’ve been digging through the archives around the players involved in the promotion-winning success, and caught something that piqued our interest regarding Ethan Ampadu’s career.

Speaking on BBC 5 Live back in 2018 about the midfielder-turned-centre-half, Ampadu’s former manager from his time at Exeter City, Paul Tisdale, revealed how he pushed for the player to get a look-in with England, but was told it wasn’t going to happen.

Tisdale said: “I haven’t seen a 14-year-old as good as Ampadu. I actually phoned England to make it known, I spoke to very relevant people and said, ‘You’ve got to get a hold of this chap, he’s such a good player.’ But I think there’s always a hesitation to listen about a player in League Two.

“But this is not a league thing, it’s not about the league level. A player’s a player… I said ‘I’ve seen him play, he’s 14, he just played for Exeter Under-18s, he’s played on a dreadful pitch with awful conditions and he’s played centre-forward, sweeper, centre midfield, all in the space of one game… you need to get him for England.”

It was to no avail, though. Risdale continued, “I was told they had better. They said they had 12 players better and that they were aware of Ethan. I said, ‘He thinks correctly, acts correctly, makes good decisions.’ I was then told he takes too few touches.

“They were looking for players who want to take more touches. But that’s actually his strength, he does things in one touch or two touches; he sees it early.”

Ampadu, as we know, would go on to sign for Chelsea, and ultimately chose to represent Wales at international level, for whom he has now earned 54 caps. Not bad for a player who doesn’t take enough touches.

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Ethan Ampadu was the linchpin behind Leeds United’s success this season

Funnily enough, based on this season, Ampadu is actually taking plenty of touches. Across his 32 appearances this season, playing at centre-half for Leeds, Ampadu has registered 97.7 touches per 90 minutes.

More importantly, Ampadu and his defensive partner, Joe Rodon, have been absolutely solid at the back, helping Leeds register a record-breaking goal difference this season.

Ampadu has displayed all the composure and intelligence on the ball you’d expect from a central midfielder, while also adding defensive awareness and a combative spirit to his game this year.

As the linchpin at the heart of the defence, and the captain for much of the season, Ampadu has well and truly stepped up and proven his worth to Leeds. It will now be interesting to see how they utilise him next season, though.

We would expect Ampadu to move back into his more familiar midfield role, where he could well be even more impactful in the Premier League.