Chelsea: Ethan Ampadu loan rumours are simply too perfect, but let’s hope

Rumours are floating around about Derby County and Aston Villa eyeing Ethan Ampadu for a second-half loan. Rarely does Chelsea have two ideal options on the table, making the more realistic third option that much more likely.

John Terry and Frank Lampard are doing everything shy of wearing Chelsea kit around their respective clubs when it comes to developing their loanees. To be fair, Terry probably wears a full Chelsea kit under his Aston Villa gear every day, you know, just in case. Mason Mount, Fikayo Tomori and Tammy Abraham are learning great football and football that is relevant for their hopeful careers at their parent club. Terry and Lampard, for their parts, are doing what every parent club dreams of for their loanees. Partly because they are great men of the sport, partly because they are forever Blues.

Derby County and Aston Villa are becoming the second-greatest place for a young Chelsea player. Perhaps they are already the greatest place for a young Chelsea player, since Chelsea’s first team has no room for such players. Ethan Ampadu is one of those players. If only there was anything to the rumours of a loan.

At Aston Villa, Ethan Ampadu would learn how to be a Chelsea centre-back from the greatest. Ampadu already has Terry’s self-sacrificial physicality, throwing himself towards the ball and towards opponents as necessary to protect his goal. And he does it incredibly intelligently for such a young player. Ampadu has the calmness and composure of last year’s version of Andreas Christensen. He still needs to grow into the role physically, but that is what loans are for.

If Chelsea sent Ampadu to Derby County, he could learn the intricacies of defensive midfield. Lampard’s genius-level of understanding of the midfield as a player is transferring easily to his coaching. Derby County’s midfield played at a Premier League level in the Carabao Cup last week, despite the players being so young and the club being over a decade removed from the top flight.

Ampadu’s career could take him to defensive midfield as easily as it could centre-back. He has shown with Wales how skilled he is on the ball, both dribbling and passing. Ryan Giggs has him play just in front of the backline in transition to defence, but move forward aggressively to transition to offence. This has given him the opportunity to unleash brilliant diagonal balls to send Wales’ attack towards the final third.

Ethan Ampadu is one of Chelsea’s top talents, which means he is most at risk of being wasted watching the first team (see also: Loftus-Cheek, Ruben). He should be playing 25-30 first-team games per season at this stage in his career. He currently has zero, and three in the Premier League 2. He suffered a recent injury setback on international duty, but that was after he was left out of Europa League and Carabao Cup sides.

Ampadu played 45 minutes with the U23’s last week and is in Wales’ squad for next week’s Nations League matches. By the end of the international break he could have more minutes for his country than his club – at all levels – in the 2018/19 campaign.

Like Callum Hudson-Odoi, Ethan Ampadu should jump at the chance to take a second-half loan. Chelsea should jump at any such offer as well. Otherwise they risk these players taking the Jadon Sancho or – closer to home – Jonathan Panzo and Harvey St. Clair route of a teenage transfer instead of a lengthy entrapment in the loan army.

Derby County and Aston Villa would both be ideal loan destinations for Ethan Ampadu. Each would train him on a specific aspect of his game, perhaps serving as a significant turning point in his career. At the very least, he would play. He could easily finish the season with 20 appearances at either club.

Maurizio Sarri won’t make it happen. Another (future) Chelsea manager – John Terry and Frank Lampard – will.