Leeds United captain Ethan Ampadu has been ruled out until the new year after picking up a knee injury against Coventry City last weekend, and Craig Bellamy has commented on the blow.
Ampadu, 24, has been ruled out for 10 weeks after damaging his lateral knee ligament in the 3-0 win over Mark Robins’ side. It saw him withdrawn on 41 minutes and missing from the 1-1 draw against Norwich.
The Leeds skipper is one of seven players with an injury at the moment. Ilia Gruev was added to that list on Tuesday, coming off at Carrow Road after 20 minutes and replaced by on-loan player Joe Rothwell.
Manor Solomon, Dan James and Isaac Schmidt have less serious injuries than Ampadu, but Max Wober has had to undergo surgery on his knee this week. Diogo Monteiro has undergone shoulder surgery.
Seven Leeds players are sidelined, even if Daniel Farke said he is waiting for Gruev’s scan before making a decision on his availability for Friday while Farke also said that Schmidt could return from his glute issue.
Craig Bellamy shares what Ethan Ampadu told him this week
Having only just turned 24, Ampadu has clocked up a massive 54 caps for Wales already and that says everything you need to know about the versatile midfielder. Rock solid, reliable and very consistent.
He is going to be a key player in Bellamy’s Wales side and losing Ampadu over the course of the next two international breaks in October and November is a blow to his country, as well as Farke’s Leeds side.
Bellamy told Wales Online: “Ethan I was blown away with. What I like with him is he is a leader. I spoke to him on Saturday, Sunday, then Monday, but you speak to a young man who is so strong, he is fine.
“He said it was no problem, a bit of a setback and he knows how much harder he’s got to work to hit the ground running. But we won’t be reliant on one player. An impressive human being. He will come back.”
Ampadu’s incredible stats for Leeds since joining from Chelsea
Since joining Leeds for a fee of £7m, which could rise to £10m depending on add-ons, Ampadu’s Leeds have played 64 matches in all competitions. During the 2023-24 season, Leeds had 55 games in total.
Ampadu’s Leeds spell in numbers:
| Season | Appearances | Starts | Subbed on | Subbed off | Absent/left on bench |
| 2023-24 | 54 | 54 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| 2024-25 | 8 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
A whopping 49 Championship games due to the play-offs, two games in the Carabao Cup and then three in the FA Cup due to a replay with Plymouth and the defeat to Chelsea. This season, another nine games.
Perhaps it is no surprise that Ampadu has picked up an injury. For club and country, Ampadu clocked up a massive 61 appearances in all competitions. Maybe, a bit of a rest and recovery will actually help Ampadu.
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