Leeds United: Will Ethan Ampadu feature again this season?
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00:00of course another popular player that we wanted to mention is Ethan Ampadu.
00:04Yeah.
00:04You know a different one though because of course you can't really say that he's played
00:07too well the last couple of games because of course he's not been playing in the last couple
00:10of games. Confirmed before the Sheffield United fixture that he was out with a cartilage knee
00:16issue. Now that's a real blow, not just for him but for Leeds as a whole because of course
00:21he is the captain, one of the most important players on the pitch for the Whites. So there's
00:26a chance that he might play again this season depending on how the recovery period goes because
00:31of course as far as I'm aware they've not opted for surgery at this stage to see if he can play
00:35again. But it's still not great because let's be honest if he does come back he will be rusty,
00:41he will be getting up to speed again and it will probably only be for a handful of games towards
00:45the end of the season. Yeah well it all depends now really you know how this sort of rehab process
00:50goes. You're totally right I mean initially but you know bombshell news really when that broke
00:53before the Sheffield United game it sort of put the gloss off the night a little bit you know in
00:56terms of such an important player as him and the initial thoughts were that he was going to be
01:00needing surgery. Obviously Leeds have decided not to send him for surgery because if he had surgery
01:04that's it his season's done basically because you'd be talking a few months. So they've gone
01:08for the conservative approach and I think Daniel Fart said four to six weeks so if that's the case
01:12and all goes well then hopefully he's hoping he'll be back after the March international break and
01:16you're right he'd probably be a bit rusty when he first came back so he'd probably be talking sort
01:19of you know early April before he sort of will start back playing. But obviously there's always
01:22the danger that ultimately the rehab doesn't go as well as expected and he ends up needing surgery
01:26but you know there's no suggestion that's going to be the case. The thing to state with Ampadu is
01:31when he was out earlier in the season he came back a lot earlier than everybody expected so that's
01:34obviously you know something to remember and hopefully a good sign to show that he's obviously
01:38got good you know sort of healing capabilities I suppose in like with his body. So let's hope he
01:42is back because he's a very very important player and there's two things of it really it's number
01:46one disappointing for him on a personal perspective because you know he'll obviously want to be out
01:49there on the pitch. The second thing obviously from a Leeds United point of view is he's a
01:53massive massive player because not only is he's the captain but you know he's obviously you know
01:57very very dependable both as a centre midfielder and as a centre back and they're probably all
02:01right in centre midfield at the moment obviously because you've got Tanaka and Rothwell and Gruev
02:05so you've still got three options there but obviously at centre back now you know really
02:09does you want to be wrapping up Joe Roden and Pascal Stroik and Cottonwall because obviously
02:12if either of those get injured Ampadu would normally slot in and obviously with him not
02:16being there and Vrba still not being quite there at the moment in terms of being fit then obviously
02:20he'd be looking down to probably you know Ghiavoghi or Di Beo or maybe Byron which is obviously
02:26not going to be ideal. So yeah there's lots of different facets to it really. I think he should
02:30be applauded Ethan Ampadu because this is obviously his first season as captain and
02:34he's done a stellar job really. I spoke to him at Thorp Arch a few months ago and he was saying you
02:38know sort of get into grips with the captaincy but he really is sort of taking that on his stride
02:42now with his off-field stuff as well and you saw when he had all the players speaking to
02:46him at Bramall Lane how important he is. So fingers crossed he gets back ASAP because he's
02:50a lovely guy as well and I want to see you know see him back on the pitch and obviously to helping
02:54Leeds back to the Premier League and I get a feeling he'll be back though you know it seems
02:57to me like he's you know like I say you remember how quickly he came back last time so fingers
03:01crossed it's the same again and that he's back on the pitch ASAP because he's a huge player for
03:04Leeds no doubt about it. He certainly is yes.