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From: https://www.theguardian.com/football/2024/mar/20/wales-euro-2024-playoff-rob-page-aaron-ramsey-ethan-ampaduThe long-term heir to the armband, however, is Ethan Ampadu, who is poised to win his 50th cap at the age of 23 years, six months and eight days, reaching that milestone quicker than Bale and faster than any other Welshman. Ampadu, who has captained Leeds this season, is mature beyond his years, an unassuming character who picks his words carefully. When it was put to him that his leadership skills were evident when “ordering people about” in his early days, Ampadu intervened. “I don’t like the word ‘ordering’,” he said.
Ampadu is at the crux of a Wales side aiming to reach a third successive European Championship finals tournament. As a 15-year-old, Ampadu, while studying for his GCSEs at St Luke’s school in Exeter, trained with Chris Coleman’s squad in the buildup to Euro 2016 – he had the last laugh over his English classmates when Wales made it to the last four – and was a bit-part player at the delayed Euro 2020. Ampadu started all of Wales’s games at the World Cup in Qatar and has played every minute of this qualifying campaign, from Split to Samsun.
Others, such as Harry Wilson and Neco Williams, have emerged from the shadows. Koumas, a fixture on the bench for Liverpool in recent weeks, is part of the next generation who Wales plan to nurture into the senior squad.
For Leeds, Ampadu has shone at centre-back alongside Joe Rodon – the club boast the meanest defence in the Championship – but he is primed to start in midfield alongside Birmingham’s Jordan James, 19, who is poised to win his ninth cap.
Ampadu, by comparison, is a veteran. “It feels like he has been around for ever,” Rodon says. “I know it sounds a bit mad but he’s going to be one for the future.”