Leeds United star Ethan Ampadu's every word on Stach YouTube video, Struijk deal and Farke presence

Ampadu, 25, has signed a new four-year deal with Leeds having already made 126 appearances and captained the club to a Championship title and Premier League survival. The midfielder was quizzed by the local press on a range of topics from the club’s ambition to Farke remaining at Elland Road and Anton Stach’s recent YouTube video. The German, Ampadu’s midfield partner, has started a YouTube channel and in one of his latest videos asked unsuspecting members of the public to identify Ampadu from old photos, when the skipper still head dreadlocks. Here’s everything Ampadu was asked and how he responded.

Q: Paraag Marathe when he broke the news last week, said that you represent everything we want on and off the pitch. How much of a confidence boost is it to hear that from the man at the very top of the club?

EA: "It's very kind words, and I'm very appreciative and grateful for the trust that they put in me. I feel like me and Leeds have been been a good fit so far. I feel like I can represent the people well. It's a very hardworking city it's a fanbase that wants hard working players, and I'd like to think that I base my game off that. My first thing is to make sure I'm hard working. I want to always try and be the hardest worker on the pitch and give my all. So I think that is a nice fit, and to hear those words is obviously very special."

Q: How much of a consideration in you agreeing to stay here for four years was was Daniel Farke and his continuing role as head coach?

EA: "I think all of it, everything that goes within it, and obviously the trust that the manager's put on me in the last couple of years has been massive. I'm very grateful for that, for the trust he's given me, and to be able to lead this team has been good, and the things that everyone wants to build on and progress and take the club forward, that's also a really big part of why I wanted to stay here."

Q: And he's talked openly about the ambition for the club going forward, his personal ambitions that the next step is for Leeds not to just be surviving in the Premier League, but to take those next steps. How much do you agree with that sentiment? And where should the club be pitching their expectations over the coming years?

EA: I think definitely it's a club, it's players involved, staff involved, a fan base involved that want to go on to greater things. I think we also do understand that the second year in the Premier League is just as hard as the first, and we've got to make sure that we do well enough to stay in the Premier League, and then from that point we want to kick on that. That's going to be the goal of ours. Everyone wants to take the club on to great heights and get back to the places that Leeds United used to be in, and what a lot of the fans know Leeds United to be.

Q: Would you love to see them in Europe and be part of that?

EA: That's the end goal, that's what we want to do, that's what we're all striving for. There's a lot of hard work to get us to that point, which we're all aware of, and we're all relishing to be honest, but it's definitely something that we should enjoy trying to do.

Q: You continue to develop as a professional footballer, you continue to develop as a player, where do you want to continue your personal journey as a player over the coming years?

EA: Hopefully I'm still at the start because I want to be able to say that I've gone on to a lot higher levels in wanting to play and better myself as a person, better myself as a player, and that's my goal. I still believe that I've still got a lot to learn, still got a lot to give and develop, and I want to be able to finish my career saying tha I've taken everything out of it that I possibly can, and achieve my absolute maximum. Obviously I've signed four years here for Leeds because I think everyone's along those same lines, and everyone wants to deliver that.

Q: Big decision, isn't it, because those are ultimately the peak years of your career, potentially?

EA: Hopefully a little bit longer than that. Hopefully it doesn't just stop at around 30, but yeah, it's one that was was quite easy for me as well. I've loved my time, and I wanted that to continue.

Q: Was there a game last season where you felt I'm at the level that I need to be to be in, the Premier League? Was there a game where you felt you'd settled into the top flight again?

EA: There's been games I've been happy with my performance, not settled, because I'm my own biggest critic, so I'm never probably gonna sit around and say that I've settled. There's been games I've been being happy with, but then you'll get those games I've not been happy with. Probably tells me that I've not settled, and I've still got a lot to learn and give.

Q: Did Anton start give you any kind of a heads up before his YouTube video that featured you so prominently?

EA: No he did, he did. But I was never gonna have anything wrong with Anton. He's getting a lot of love and attention with his YouTube, isn't he? It's funny, he shows his personality, but yeah, you did let me know before.

Q: The Welsh contingent has obviously grown in the senior Welsh squad with Jayden joining up. You've had Charlie [Crew] around as well. It's pretty remarkable to have such a core of Welsh players at one club. Have you all been selling it to the likes of Harry Wilson?

A: Trying to sell it to everyone, to be honest. I think it's a pretty easy sell. I think everyone knows how special a place Leeds is, but whenever anyone asks how our time is at Leeds, when we're in Wales, we obviously speak about so glowingly.

Q: How important was the off-the-pitch stuff to you in this, in these discussions with Leeds about dictating what you wanted to happen next, the bigger picture.

EA: Massive, I think everyone wants to want to strive for bigger things, but I think it's when you make a decision like this, it's based off everything, and everything's got to feel right, and feel good. And I never felt like that wasn't the case, that's always been the case. So that's why I said for me, it's felt like quite an easy decision.

Q: And what you want to see happen this summer. What you hoping that the club does ahead of the second season back in the Premier League?

EA: As it's been doing ever since I've been here, wanting to develop, wanting to grow. I know that's been the message. So I think it's just making sure that everyone's aligned on doing that, which I think everyone is. I believe everyone is, and I believe that's where everyone's attention is as well.

Q: You were the first signing when Daniel came in in 2023. You've obviously had a close connection, and you've been one of his most important players. So, when you were discussing your contract with the club, did you want any assurances, and what might happen with Daniel in his future?

EA: Of course, but his conversations are separate to mine. It's one that I feel is the best, and for me, making my decision was obviously everything else influences, but making my decision was obviously based on me and everything else, but I obviously have been very grateful. I am very grateful for for everything that Daniel's done for me, and I think for the club to progress that's what everyone wants.

Q: In your first club interview after signing the contract I remember you saying that you never had really any second thoughts about signing it. Simple question, really. Why? What is it that excites you about this Leeds United project?

EA: Where the club has been, the places that has been, and the want and will for everyone to get back to those places. I said I feel like it could be quite a good fit for Leeds fans in terms of wanting to be hardworking but it just feels natural, and I just love it here.

Q: There's a few coming to the end of the contract, maybe in a year's time. One of them is Pascal. How much would you like to see him stay at the club long-term, and also as a separate thing, how much value has he been as a vice captain to you, in your role as skipper?

EA: He's been massive. If you want to talk about how all the players are, I think the whole squad in general, it's not just captain, vice captain. I think Pascal can also give testament to every other player here, it's a squad that's full of leaders, everyone leads in their own different ways, but it's a squad full of leaders and a squad that wants to make sure that everyone's keeping the highest standards. So, as you said Pascal's coming to the end of his deal, but I hope that everyone can be here. I think we've achieved something great this season, and I believe that everyone wants to go and achieve greater things, so I think obviously it'd be very sad to see to see anyone going, obviously Pascal's included in it.

Q: How do you see your role changing next season, if it does at all, in terms of obviously you were newly promoted team last season, and you're not always going to be the underdog in every game now. So how do you navigate that shift from being newly-promoted to going to stability for these next few years?

EA: Keeping to what we've been doing. I think my role will be the same in terms of trying to keep the standards as high as they possibly can be, whether that's myself or for everyone in training sessions or around the place, making sure that we always want to give our best performances day in day out, always working our hardest, wanting to improve. So, in terms of my role, I don't think it's changed. I don't think it even changed when I became captain. I feel like I tried to, anyway. It's not something I tried to force upon myself, but it's pretty similar.

Q: You've taken on massive leadership roles, both with Leeds and with Wales, at quite a young age. I think people sometimes forget that. How much of a factor do you think is the fact that you started your senior career as a 15-year-old? Do you think that put you on the path to maturing quite quickly and growing up quite quickly?

EA: Yeah, definitely. Whether I liked it or not, I had to. I was a young kid that was playing in a first team, which I was very grateful for, and maybe it was a bit unexpected, but I was very happy to do it. I might have had different pressures to everyone, but at the end of the day, it's the same pressure, because you're playing to win a game, so I think that maturity had to be there. Like I said, I don't try to act mature, try to be anything different. I think it just has gone quite naturally, but again, I think that's because maybe I've been around the first team environment from a young age, so I've had to learn that.

Q: You moved around a lot in the early stages of career, three years into Leeds, committed to another four years. How important was it for you to lay down roots somewhere? Was it something you were always keen to do, to make somewhere your home longer term?

EA: Definitely, I said that when I first came here, but also when I was out on loan everywhere you understand what a loan is for, loans are to go play games, to go learn as a player. And when you're at that team to give the best you can, and although you go on loans to get that, you also do lose that bit of stability. I've loved that for the last three years, and I'm hoping that can get only only get better in these next four.

Q: Coming into the summer period now, a real period of change, where players come and go. What could you tell about your role in terms of new faces arrive, and embedding them not only into the squad but into the dressing room, and that group of people, rather than players?

EA: Like you said, the first thing is the people, everyone's obviously been that person, at that new place for the first time, and no matter who you are, it can be different. There can be a lot of new faces, but I try to be the first one they can greet, give a familiar face going forward, and just make sure everyone's as comfortable as can be, because I think that only leads to a person giving their best as a player. Once you feel settled and enabled, I think that's when you can really go be confident and shine.