Ethan Ampadu says Sheffield United loan spell has made him a better player - but he's not focused on Chelsea future

Ampadu is on loan at Bramall Lane from Chelsea, and the 20-year-old admits that he has played more in the Premier League this campaign than he would have perhaps expected when he made the switch to South Yorkshire.

Ampadu’s spell at United, with 28 appearances so far, is by a distance his most experience in football as a professional and he has played all across the back three for United this season, as well as in midfield.

"It's been a huge season for me, the biggest I have had as a footballer," the Welsh international, who is under contract at Stamford Bridge until the summer of 2023, admitted.

"I will take everything away from it that I can. Whether that's learning and adapting to the Premier League, watching games back on myself and seeing what I can improve on, which I do regularly anyway, off the pitch stuff, mentally, how to look after myself.

"How to be a professional footballer in the Premier League is what I will take away from this spell.

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"I have come on a lot tactically. You come up against a lot of different systems in the Premier League but also individual players. I have been fortunate enough to play against top class players and having to deal with them.

"The nature of being chucked in and playing more games you improve. Being realistic, I had not had a lot of football - my goal was always to try and play this amount of games and more, but comparing to other seasons it's been the big difference.

"You train every day to improve and learning from watching yourself and watching other players, but really, the only way you do get the experience is by being chucked in, and that's what I have had this season and I have had to learn from it."

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Ampadu signed for Chelsea from Exeter as a youngster but has made only one appearance for his parent club in the Premier League, off the bench. Curiously, after United his most career games have come for his country, with 22 Wales caps under his belt.

And, when asked about his future in the upcoming summer and beyond, Ampadu admitted: “My thoughts right now are seeing how the season goes and going into the summer, there’s some big games to go and my mind’s on those.

“I haven’t spoken to the manager [at Chelsea, Thomas Tuchel]. I’ve spoken to Chelsea a few times about how the season’s going but nothing about the future.

“I hope that every footballer wants to be playing regular football, that’s what you dream of and wherever I am, I want to be playing football.

“We’ll have to see what happens, I have dreams myself to play for one club so we’ll have to wait and see.”

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