The future of Welsh football is looking pretty bright right now.

The national side’s incredible journey to the semi-final’s of this years European Championship tournament has seen them rise above England in the world rankings and earned them a worldwide reputation among football fans.

Aside from that, Wales’ younger generation are a constantly improving bunch too, as the likes of Harry Wilson (Liverpool) and Tyler Roberts (West Brom) have impressed during their appearances for the under 21 and under 17 sides and are considered by many to be the next big things in the Wales set-up.

Last night though a new player made a name for himself in the opening round of the EFL Cup and that boy’s name is Ethan Ampadu. Now, if you’re a major fan of all things to do with Welsh football then you may have heard of this young lad before as he’s played four times for the national side’s under 17 team. If like me you’re not fully aware of everything that goes on within those youthful teams, then here’s the lowdown on the player that’s had social media booming today.

Ampadu is the son of former footballer, Kwame Ampadu (who played most of his games for Swansea City and Exeter) and is eligible to play for Ghana, Ireland or England through his father, but has so far chosen to represent Wales as his mother is Welsh.

He is usually deployed as a defensive midfielder, but in Exeter’s 1-0 win over Brentford in the EFL Cup last night, he played a full 120 minutes as a centre back and at only 15 years old, broke an 87 year club record held by Cliff Bastin of being the youngest player to play for Exeter. If that wasn’t already enough tom convince you of this boy’s potential, then it’s also worth mentioning that he was awarded the man of the match award after the game due to his incredible performances.

Incredibly, Ampadu was only called up to the first-team because he is on school holiday and Exeter manager, Paul Tisdale, beamed with excitement as he spoke to BBC Devon about the player:

“”He finished school and he came straight in to train with the first team. The biggest compliment I can give him is that he plays like a 35-year-old.”

Many Premier League clubs, such as Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal are said to be keeping an eye on the youngster this season and if he keeps playing like he did last night, then there’s no doubt that we could be seeing him playing at the highest level and for the senior national team real soon.