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Sheffield United coach Chris Wilder has not let the grass grow around his feet during the shortened close-season in England.
As well as raiding Derby County for defenders Jayden Boyle and Max Lowe, he’s swooped to take Ethan Ampadu on a season-long loan from Chelsea.
Ampadu (19) has already won 13 caps for Wales, and is the son of Impact assistant coach, Kwame Ampadu who coached in the youth ranks at Arsenal with Thierry Henry and became the Frenchman’s assistant at AS Monaco. Although born in Bradford, England, he has four u21 for the Republic of Ireland, courtesy of his mother being from Dublin.
Ampadu junior himself could have had the choice of 4 international countries to play for including England, Republic of Ireland and Ghana, but chose Wales, his own mother’s birthplace.
He would’ve faced Impact’s own Jukka Raitala and Lassi Lappalainen last Thursday had the pair been able to join up with the Finnish national squad. Ampadu, with more international caps than club appearances to his name played in each of Wales 1-0 wins over the past weekend; away to Finland and home to Bulgaria.
He spent last season also on loan, at Bundesliga club RB Leipzig, but was limited to only 7 appearances.
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The younger Ampadu has earned rave reviews for his appearances with Wales, and upon the signing, Wilder said, “Ethan is an outstanding young player for Chelsea, and we’ve worked really hard to get his signature for the season.
“We need to thank Frank Lampard and the people at Chelsea for helping making this happen. We’ve got a good relationship with them and they know we’re going to take good care of him.”