Neil Warnock wants to offer Ethan Ampadu a very special 18th birthday present – a loan spell at Cardiff City.
The Bluebirds manager missed out on another Chelsea startlet in the summer, Tammy Abraham, but has set his sights on bringing teenage sensation Ampadu to Cardiff in the new year.
Ampadu, who was 18 on Friday, 14 Sept, was the talk of the Welsh capital after his stunning competitive debut for Wales in the 4-1 win over the Republic of Ireland last week. Warnock was one of his biggest converts and now he wants him in his side.
“I think I could help him and the Premier League would certainly help him. It would open his eyes,” said Warnock.
“He doesn’t look out of place at this level and I think he should go out on loan. We would definitely have him.
“I thought he was outstanding in that first game for Wales, but a little bit overpowered in the second one. What I like about him is he is so confident.
“He’s not dissimilar to Ray Wilkins. I always thought Ray was slow and only passed square, but when you looked at his game he could see a pass and deliver it as well.
“Ethan keeps everything moving, a bit like Joe Allan. We would have loved to have had Joe in the summer, but he signed a new contract at Stoke.
“Bill Shankly always used to say that football is a simple game and it is just people that make it difficult. He was right, it’s the players that make it difficult.
“But young Ampadu doesn’t make the game look difficult and that’s the biggest compliment I could pay him. These young lads nowadays have no fear, although when you can play like him then why would you?
“Ethan keeps the game simple. He will have to quicken up a bit when he plays higher up because he will get caught, but that’s the whole objective of playing games.
“He will only get that by playing games. When you get to play with the type of players he gets to play with at Chelsea, it does help in his education.
“But if they aren’t going to play him then give him the chance to gain some confidence to take the next step. He should go out on loan, they all should.
“I understand that managers have such a short time scale in their job that they can’t really worry about kids. They want ready made players and when you can just pay £50m for someone and leave a kid out, you are going to do that.”
Cardiff have got two points in the bag so far since their return to the top flight in the summer but are still awaiting their first win. With games against Chelsea on Saturday, and Man City, Spurs and Liverpool to play before the end of October, Warnock isn’t expecting his side to start racking up the points just yet.
But if he is forced to leave Stamford Bridge this weekend without any points, he at least wants to leave having put in a bid for Ampadu.
“I will be speaking to somebody at Chelsea about one or two things this weekend. I think they should loan him to us – the same as with Tammy Abraham in the summer,” said Warnock.
“Chelsea have got good players who could do with getting some games. If they could get a game in the Premier League it would help their development.
“I think Ethan is ready to play in the Premier League, as I thought Tammy was. I thought Tammy could have spearheaded our challenge and would have enjoyed the way we play, but it wasn’t to be.
“Surely playing for us 20-30 times in the Premier League would have improved him more than playing in the Championship. It was a no brainer to me.”