Chelsea: Ethan Ampadu paid the price for not having an easily defined role

Ethan Ampadu spent the 2018/19 season out in the Gary Cahill hinterlands of Maurizio Sarri’s grand design. Chelsea have to bring him into the fold early next season or they will justifiably lose a top talent.

Ethan Ampadu walked into last summer’s preseason with two strikes against him. He was only 17-years old, at least six years younger than the new Chelsea manager’s minimum age of consideration.

Second, he did not have a well-defined “role.” In 2017/18  he had starts at centre-back in the centre of the three-man defence and also came on for Andreas Christensen on the left of the defence. Antonio Conte also used him as a midfielder, starting alongside Danny Drinkwater, in addition to substitutes appearances in place of Cesc Fabregas and N’Golo Kante. So was he a centre-back or a midfielder? The centre-back spots were quickly taken by Antonio Rudiger (merit) and David Luiz (manipulation). If Ampadu was a midfielder, was he a defensive midfielder or a playmaker? It wouldn’t help his cause under the new regime if he was a r*****a, and he certainly wasn’t an “Allan role” or a “Hamsik role.” The only remaining option for Maurizio Sarri, then, is “no role.”

Ampadu finished 2018/19 with the odd and unpleasant distinction of having played more minutes for his national team than his club team. Ryan Giggs gave him 178 minutes in the Nations League and 321 total minutes in six games. Maurizio Sarri gave him 283 minutes, with his playing time in both the Europa League and FA Cup being less than in his international competitive fixtures.

Giggs, like Conte, suffered no confusion from Ampadu’s talents. With Wales, Ampadu showed an impressive passing range and vision to go with fearless physicality in one-on-one’s. The only thing better than Ampadu going in hard on Sergio Ramos was Ampadu standing over the Spanish s**t-houser saying “C’mon, get up!”

Ampadu has the ability to suit different needs within different tactical systems. Considering he is only 18 years old, he has a few more years before he needs to “settle down” into one position. He is still developing physically, technically and tactically, so could well end up spending the next few years in different positions for club and country.

Given how he has foot in midfield and one in defence, Ampadu’s best position could be in a “destroyer” type position in front of the defence. You might even go so far as calling it the “David Luiz role.”

Ampadu would maintain his shielding position better than Luiz (low bar), but like the Brazilian Ampadu is very comfortable with the ball at his feet and can find the mid- to long-range passes to unleash an attack. Like Luiz, Ampadu could play that position between two lines of four. But Ampadu also had a taste of playing in a two-man defensive midfield for Chelsea and Wales. And, of course, the two have similar builds (and hair).

But he cannot have another season like 2018/19. For all that Ampadu can bring Chelsea’s next manager, it’s telling that my colleague Gabe Henderson has yet even to mention Ampadu in any of his projected XI’s for the leading candidates to replace Maurizio Sarri. Ampadu has the versatility to fill some of the more amorphous, uncertain roles for an incoming manager. After this season he was unlikely to be a starter next season, but he has not even warranted a “Ethan Ampadu would be a long shot, but the starter will clearly be…” passing reference.

Ampadu and Callum Hudson-Odoi looked to be on the same trajectory when they debuted six weeks apart in 2017/18. Both took a few steps back in the first half under Maurizio Sarri, but while Hudson-Odoi was allowed to recover his momentum, Ampadu stayed stagnant, which means he went backwards.

Whoever is managing Chelsea must have a plan to make steady use of Ethan Ampadu, or the club must arrange a first-tier loan for him. Considering the backlog of centre-backs and the range of options among midfielders, the loan may be the best option unless he gets every domestic cup start and a good number of substitute appearances in the Premier League and Champions League.

Ampadu was a highly-rated but little-known prospect when the Blues bought him from Exeter City. He was only a few minutes in to his Chelsea career before it was obvious the Blues had pulled off an absolute steal by getting him for a tribunal-determined fee of about £3 million.

Ampadu’s sidelining this year was not as galling as Gary Cahill’s or Danny Drinkwater’s, but it was just as needless. He didn’t fit into a “role,” and that was that.

Chelsea – with an assist from Maurizio Sarri – are on the verge of correcting the first mistake that led to Ampadu’s lost season. Now they have to remediate the damage and not let something like this happen to him again.