Farke handed the club captaincy to Ethan Ampadu this summer after the Welshman wore the armband in the second half of the 2023/24 campaign. Still just 23, Ampadu is vastly experienced compared with many of his age group peers having broken into men’s football at the tender age of 15 and since experienced life in the Premier League, Championship and Serie A.
His newly-awarded club captaincy appears to have coincided with a nasty streak, as evidenced by the physicality in his game and a more in-your-face approach to opposition players during pre-season.
The manager admits he wants a bit more leadership, even in the form of aggression, from Ampadu this season as he walks in the footsteps of Liam Cooper.
But others have to help the new skipper out, too, including his vice captains Pascal Struijk and Illan Meslier, both of whom are just 24.
“Not just from Ethan,” said Farke. “Normally in this league, you have a team of club captains older than 30. The leadership group is more or less three or four guys in their 30s, but we have a pretty young side and Ethan had the best mentor with Liam Cooper. Because Ethan is the new club captain. Ethan has big footsteps to fill after Liam, he has been unbelievable for this club, what he did in a decade was outstanding. He led this club into the Premier League and has made sure that they had also one really good year there.
He was a fantastic person and player for this club. When you’re so young in age and just one year at the club, you have to try fulfil these big footsteps, it’s never easy, but it was our choice with Ethan, Pascal and Illan.”
Farke has never shied away from just how young and inexperienced his squad is, beyond a few veterans dotted here and there. Last season there were games in which cooler heads or a little more nous would have come in handy. Even at Preston North End, when Meslier’s loss of composure in the face of provocation and subsequent theatrics led to a sending off.
The manager was pleased with how Leeds dealt with provocation and physical aggression last Saturday in the final pre-season outing against Valencia. Ampadu in particular took the fight to the LaLiga side and was often seen in verbal exchanges with the visitors, who lost Rafa Mir to a red card and could also have had Hugo Duro dismissed.
“It’s a young leadership group but it’s what we’re all about,” said Farke. “We try to build something new for the future. These lads have to step up right now. They are young in age but they have the right mindset and have the right character to lead. When I think about the games, Illan Meslier for example has played on this level and we want them to step up and give them more responsibility, to back them more. We ask them to lead more and act with more maturity and responsibility for the group, this was the reason we decided to give Ethan the captaincy and then with Illan and Pascal as vice captains, then even the experienced players like Byram and Bamford, they are pretty much needed to help lead the group.
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