Chelsea face difficult choice on forgotten ace who could be Thomas Tuchel's next Trevoh Chalobah

"As a footballer, you want to play in every game, and as a kid, I loved playing every game. It does help on big occasions, but week by week, you want to play football. No one likes to sit and watch it."

Ethan Ampadu's words probably never rung more true than when he helped Wales to qualify for the World Cup for the first time in 64 years. The 21-year-old Chelsea ace completed the full 90 minutes at the Cardiff City Stadium as Rob Page's side overcame Ukraine 1-0. The youngster, who spent last season on loan at Venezia, slotted in on the right side of a back-three with Joe Rodon and Ben Davies to keep keep a clean sheet in the play-off clash.

It was a solid outing from the Welshman who once again showed his versatility, in a season where he has been present across the backline and utilised as a defensive midfielder in Serie A. Despite suffering consecutive relegations, Ampadu's reputation was only enhanced during his time in Italy and once again he is set to return to Cobham in a bid to impress Thomas Tuchel.

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The international break may delay Ampadu joining the squad for pre-season - those representing their national team will be back in training from July 9th, a week later than their counterpart - he will have significantly more time to impress his coach than last summer where EURO 2020 delayed his opportunity to train in front of Tuchel.

Despite his situation in the summer of 2021, much talk of Ampadu's future was that he was being considered for a place in Chelsea's squad due to his versatility. The Welshman was even originally named in Chelsea UEFA Super Cup squad before dropping out alongside Tino Anjorin to be replaced