Leeds United captain Ethan Ampadu has returned from injury and has been back to his best since then, especially against Wolverhampton Wanderers.
The Leeds United win was their second of the campaign, with Ampadu starting both of them after missing the Arsenal, Sheffield Wednesday, and Newcastle United games.
Ethan Ampadu is Leeds’ talismanic captain and a mainstay for Daniel Farke ever since they arrived in West Yorkshire during the same summer. Even if their first season ended in disappointment, Ampadu and co. made it right in 2024/25.
In spite of some injuries, the 25-year-old was still a crucial player last term. He also came back from injury at just the right time of the run-in and Ampadu’s open-top bus antics were legendary following promotion being sealed.
Ethan Ampadu sets Leeds record as captain in win over Wolves
Ampadu shone statistically against Wolves last time out. However, he has taken to life in the Premier League well already. For example, Troy Deeney labelled Ampadu ‘the catalyst’ against Everton in that victory, too.
Ampadu set records for Leeds against Everton, making his injury situation a blow to the Whites in terms of the timing of it for the games sandwiched in between their two wins.
It’s fair to say Leeds midfielders, like Ampadu, should score more but then Anton Stach stepped up with a stunning strike from his free-kick at Molineux.
He took the headlines in the end, but Leeds’ captain was one of the best performers vs Wolves. That has been underlined by the latest reveal regarding Ampadu’s importance to this Leeds team.
Opta’s Jonny Cooper has stated: “Leeds United have won 37 of the 55 matches Ethan Ampadu has started as captain, the best win ratio (67%) of any player to captain Leeds more than five times in the club’s history.”
Ampadu was unlucky to lose against Fulham as well, having been on a 25-game winning run in a Leeds shirt prior to that. It was a record outside of the Don Revie era for the Welshman.
Ethan Ampadu’s modest reaction to Wolves performance
In terms of his level and consistency of performance, as well as his communication, Ampadu is a real leader and standard setter in the dressing room.
As can be seen above, he was everywhere on Saturday. However, Ampadu is often level-headed and usually unassuming.
His short post-match social media reaction says as much, with Ampadu stating: “Big away day!”
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