Ethan Ampadu

Ethan Kwame Colm Raymond Ampadu was born on September 14, 2000, in Exeter, Devon to former footballer Kwame Ampadu. His father was a former lower league player who played as a midfielder for clubs like Arsenal, Swansea City, Leyton Orient and Exeter City.

In 2008, Ethan Ampadu began training at the Exeter City youth academy where his father coached the U18 team before moving to Arsenal. While Ethan began playing at senior level while still in school, he had limited appearances for the team because of his GCSEs in early 2017.

Ethan Ampadu made his senior club debut on August 9, 2016, at the age of 15 years 10 months and 26 days, in a EFL Cup first round match against Brentford at St James Park. Playing full 120 minutes for Exeter City, he broke the previous 87-year-old club record held by Cliff Bastin as Exeter's youngest player.

He made another record by bagging the Man of the Match honor in his debut game. This performance also made him a prime recruitment candidate for renowned clubs like Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester City, all of which sought to sign the youngster to their team.

He made his league debut one week later against Crawley Town in EFL League Two, and even though his team lost the match by 0-1, he earned praise for his performance. He went on to play 13 matches for the club throughout the season.

In October 2016, he shined in their home match against Chelsea in the Checkatrade Trophy during which Exeter stunned the Blues with a quick 3-0 lead and finished the game 3-2. While Chelsea had a team full of their promising U-21 players, the 16-year-old Exeter youngster was the best player on the field – something that reportedly convinced the club to recruit him the following year.

Chelsea FC led the race to get him into their fold, and made a formal offer of compensation to Exeter to sign him in January 2017, which was turned down by Exeter. The club reportedly asked for as much as £3million, which the Blues were not prepared to pay.

Ethan Ampadu began his international career with the Wales national football team in their U-14, U-15, U-16 and U-17 squads. He was the captain of the Welsh U-16 team that registered a win over England to earn the Victory Shield for the first time in 66 years.

A highly rated player, he was soon promoted to the U-17 team while he was still eligible for the U-16 squad. He showed his class in the new team as well, and helped Wales beat France for the first time in history.

While he qualified for the Welsh team as it was his mother's birthplace, his British-born father had played for Ireland Under-21, as well as 144 matches for the Welsh club Swansea between 1994 and 1998. Thanks to Ethan’s exceptional performance, he was invited to join the English national youth team, and also qualified to play for Ireland and Ghana teams as his father had Irish and Ghanaian roots.

To goad the youngster to keep playing for the Welsh team at the senior level, Wales invited him to train with Gareth Bale and the rest of the senior squad ahead of Euro 2016. Welsh professional football manager, Chris Coleman, also allowed him access to the Cardiff City Stadium dressing room before the matches to rub shoulders with top level national players.

He had also attended a couple of English age-grade camps, which sparked rumors that he might choose to play for England. However, he eventually decided to stay with the Welsh national team as he liked the 'atmosphere' there.