The inspiration for this piece came from me scrolling through Twitter on Sunday whilst watching the Norwich vs. Burnley game – which was clearly keeping my attention well.
I stumbled across a tweet from Venezia's English account which remarked during the Serie A side's game with Udinese how versatile Ethan Ampadu has proved to be for the club battling against a quick relegation back to Serie B.
"Lost count of how many times Ampadu has played multiple roles in the same match. Pretty remarkable." The account said. The Welshman, who was loaned out by Chelsea last summer has somewhat fallen off the radar.
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It feels an awfully long time ago that Ampadu felt like an exciting Cobham breakthrough under Antonio Conte in the 2017/18 season. Given his quick trajectory to senior minutes at Stamford Bridge and then an international call-up, the sky appeared the limit.
When we got glimpses of him sporadically as a central midfielder and a centre-back, the level of maturity shown offered hope Ampadu would provide an internal solution to improve the club's defensive options in the long term.
It probably signals how his career has gone since those early shoots of optimism he has fallen so far away from the conversation at Chelsea. As Thomas Tuchel faces the prospect of losing three senior defenders this summer, it is the name of Levil Colwill, another loan talent in The Championship with Huddersfield, that's brought up to be promoted rather than Ampadu.
Still only 21, Venezia is Ampadu's third loan away from Stamford Bridge. And given where his current club sit in the table, it could be successive relegations for Ampadu after his spell with Sheffield United last season.
Before that was the glamour of RB Leipzig in the Bundesliga under Julian Nagelsmann, involved during a year where a future blue, Timo Werner, would become one of Europe's most lethal marksmen and Leipzig would progress all the way to the Champions League semi-finals.
But the catch of such a trendy move was the complete lack of action Ampadu actually got during the 2019/20 season. He only made three league appearances between August and March before a back injury ended his season.
"There’s been a lot of frustration at times," he told The Athletic in April 2020. "However, I’ve learned a lot through those frustrations which will only help me later in my career.
"I’ve not played as many games as I’d have liked to but in the games I’ve played in, I think I’ve done reasonably well. That’ll give me confidence, but I’ve things to learn from."
Four months later and Amapdu had his second loan confirmed, moving to Bramall Lane under Chris Wilder following The Blades' impressive first season back in the Premier League. This loan certainly improved Ampadu's game time, making 29 appearances, with 25 of those coming in the league.
Notably, his involvement in a miserable season for the club did little to enhance his reputation. Even with that struggle, Ampadu again reflected on it being a positive experience when talking to YorkshireLive last April.
"How to be a professional footballer in the Premier League is what I will take away from this spell.
"I have come on a lot tactically. You come up against a lot of different systems in the Premier League but also individual players. I have been fortunate enough to play against top-class players and having to deal with them.
"But the nature of being chucked in and playing more games you improve."
Ampadu's tactical versatility in Serie A can probably be attributed to his varied experience on his previous loans even if another relegation places a question over his Chelsea future.
Will he be looked at by Tuchel over the upcoming pre-season? Would a fourth loan just delay the inevitable permanent sale further down the line?
When contrasting Amapdu's development with that of Trevoh Chalobah who surprisingly broke through last summer after a low-key loan spell at struggling Lorient in Ligue 1 where he played in midfield. After previous loans at Ipswich and Huddersfield, it took Chalobah several years away to finally get the chance he had waited for.
Ampadu's experiences, although perceived to be negative, could have sparked a level of maturity necessary to impress. One that could be latched upon this summer should he remain with the squad in pre-season.
