Ethan Ampadu casts early Leeds United transfer verdict as six new signings impress
Leeds United’s captain opened up on how the new signings have fared following Tuesday’s win over SC Verl.
Leeds United’s summer signings have impressed Ethan Ampadu and his teammates with how quickly they have settled into life under Daniel Farke.
Four of Leeds’ six new arrivals got another decent round of minutes under their belts on Tuesday in a 4-1 behind-closed-doors win over German third-tier outfit SC Verl. Two excellent first-half Joel Piroe finishes were followed by a goal each from Willy Gnonto and free agent signing Lukas Nmecha, with Jonas Arweiler’s consolation coming in the final seconds of a 120-minute affair.
Nmecha has looked particularly sharp in games against SC Verl and Manchester United while Gabriel Gudmundsson, Sean Longstaff and Jaka Bijol also featured both times. Sebastiaan Bornauw impressed in Stockholm but is now out for around two weeks with a muscle injury.
£17.4million signing Anton Stach watched on from the stands on Tuesday, having not been given international clearance in time to feature, but has been involved in training. And club captain Ampadu admits all have made a positive early impression on him and the rest of Farke’s Championship title-winning squad.
“Very impressed,” Ampadu told LUTV of his new teammates following Tuesday’s win. “Not just me, but all the lads. I said before the Manchester United game that the way that they have adapted and settled has been great to see. And I think that has shown in performances as well.
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“[We are] trying to obviously build togetherness. We have got some new faces. I think that was something that we built here last time. And I think that was shown throughout the season in difficult moments, so obviously that is the baseline again.”
Ethan Ampadu shoulders blame for Leeds United concession
Nmecha’s first goal since joining was well received and Leeds showed plenty of quality moments, namely Harry Gray’s through ball for Piroe to open the scoring and some great pieces of play from Jayden Bogle, Ao Tanaka and Gnonto. The one blotch on a near-perfect 120-minute clash came when Charlie Crew’s back-pass was intercepted by SC Verl goalscorer Arweiler.
Crew took a pass from Ampadu under some pressure and his attempt to find Darlow fell short, with Arweiler rounding the goalkeeper to score. But ever the leader, club captain Ampadu shouldered the blame.
“It was good,” he added of the overall performance. “Obviously a little bit extended with it being two 60 minutes but, no, it was nice especially after Saturday. Pre-season is all about getting mileage in the legs, getting the fitness back.
“It was good opposition. They made it difficult. We had to adapt. There were times where we wanted to keep the ball more and we didn’t, maybe disappointed to concede. It might have been my fault.
“I told Chaz [Charlie Crew] to play it back to him, but the main thing of pre-season is getting fitness and it’s always nice to win. This is what pre-season is for, we knew it was going to be a hard training camp. We had a good decent day yesterday followed by today, so it has been good work.”