Who is this first Chelsea player to have been born in this century?
- Kaustubh Pandey
Born in Exeter in August, 2000, Ampadu is the first player born in the 21st century to have made an appearance for Chelsea. The 17-year-old came onto the play the last ten minutes of the clash at the John Smith Stadium when he replaced Andreas Christensen.
A central midfielder by trade, Ampadu has drawn comparisons to David Luiz not only because of the similarity in hairstyle, but also a similarity on the basis of versatility on the pitch. Ampadu’s roots are curious indeed. He is eligible to play for England, Ghana, Ireland and Wales too.
While he was born in England and has even played for the nation on the U-16 level, Ampadu has already made a couple of appearances for the Welsh senior national side already. And the eligibility for playing for Ghana and Ireland comes from his grandparents, who were born in Ghana and Dublin.
A son to former Swansea player Kwame Ampadu, Ethan joined Chelsea last summer from Exeter, where he became the youngest player ever for the club when he appeared a League Cup game last season. He has, though, already made his League Cup appearances for Chelsea, when he came on for Cesc Fabregas against Nottingham Forest.