Report reveals Coventry City and West Brom missed out on 43-cap international | OneFootball

Coventry City and West Bromwich Albion were both in the race for Chelsea midfielder Ethan Ampadu, according to a report from 90min.

The Wales international has been on a series of loan spells during his time at Stamford Bridge, joining the Blues from Exeter City back in 2017 when he was a very promising teenager.

Although he has developed since then with spells at RB Leipzig, Sheffield United, Venezia and Spezia helping him to become a better player, he hasn't been able to secure regular first-team football at his current side and would benefit from moving on.

Although Mauricio Pochettino has come in, something that could have potentially given him the chance to impress and establish himself as a useful first-team asset, it doesn't look as though a managerial change will help him to make a meaningful senior breakthrough in the English capital with Leeds United believed to be closing on on a move for him.

How much will Leeds United pay for Ethan Ampadu?

The Evening Standard believes the Whites will fork out a sizeable £7m to lure Ampadu away from the Premier League giants.

That £7m is just the initial amount Daniel Farke's side will pay though, with a further £3m potentially still to come in add-ons in the future.

Chelsea have also inserted a sell-on clause into this agreement, meaning the Whites won't receive 100% of the fee they sell him on for in the future.

Would Coventry City have benefitted from signing Ethan Ampadu?

Mark Robins' side would have benefitted from the fact the Wales international can operate both in a centre-back and a central midfield role.

They are in desperate need of more options in central defence to give them a sufficient amount of depth ahead of the new season and his ability to play at the back would have been extremely useful for him.

He may have also been useful to have in the middle of the park, although he wouldn't have been a suitable replacement for Gustavo Hamer considering how valuable the latter is in the final third.

Would Ethan Ampadu be a good signing for West Brom?

Albion already have options in the middle of the park to choose from - but Nathaniel Chalobah could be on his way out of the club and with this in mind, he may have been useful to have.

With Dara O'Shea leaving too, he could have been a good option to have in central defence, although Carlos Corberan may have been reluctant to see the Wales international block the path of promising youngster Caleb Taylor.

It would have been difficult to have seen Albion fork out the amount needed to lure him to The Hawthorns though, so they may have needed to negotiate a loan deal if they had wanted to sign the 22-year-old.

Coventry, on the other hand, have sold Viktor Gyokeres and probably could have matched Leeds' bid if they wanted to.

However, they have signed Ellis Simms for a sizeable fee already and need to bring in a number of players before the end of the window, making it unlikely that they would have spent much on Ampadu.