It will be a second temporary switch for Ampadu, who turns 20 next week. He spent last season gaining experience at RB Leipzig, where he was a team-mate of Timo Werner’s. He played seven games in Germany, including the full 90 minutes of a Champions League round of 16 win at Tottenham on Leipzig’s path to the semi-finals of that competition.

Ampadu joined Chelsea from Exeter City in 2017, and became our eighth-youngest debutant in a Carabao Cup game that September. He has so far made 12 appearances in his Blues career, seven of them starts. In 2018/19 he featured on three occasions in our successful Europa League campaign, although a back injury cut his season short.

Capable of playing at centre-back or midfield, Ampadu has been a regular in the senior Wales team since making his debut against France aged 17. In the past seven days he has helped Ryan Giggs’s side record back-to-back 1-0 victories, against Finland and Bulgaria, with assured performances in the heart of defence.

He joins a Sheffield United side that surprised many by finishing in ninth place in the Premier League last season following their promotion from the Championship. Chris Wilder’s side start the new campaign by hosting Wolves on the same night we travel to Brighton. Their second league match is away to Aston Villa.