Chelsea fans just realising forgotten ace who hasn’t played in five-and-a-half years is now their longest serving player

CHELSEA fans are just realising that a forgotten star is now their longest serving player.

It’s been a period of upheaval since Todd Boehly’s takeover last year with a number of players coming and going.

This summer alone 11 players have left the club – with the team also trying to ship out wantaway stars such as Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Romelu Lukaku.

And with Cesar Azpilicueta leaving the club after 11 years of service, Chelsea now have a surprise longest serving player in Ethan Ampadu.

The Chelsea academy graduate made his full debut in 2017 when he came off the bench in a Premier League game against Huddersfield.

Ampadu was just 16 at the time and was thought to be one of the next big things at Chelsea.

Then manager Maurizio Sarri even dubbed the defender as “the future of Chelsea”.

Since his debut, Ampadu hasn’t featured again in the Premier League and has found himself regularly out on loan.

He last made an appearance for the Chelsea first team in 2018 and has since then enjoyed loan spells at RB Leipzig, Sheffield United, and Serie A sides Venezia and Spezia – although he has suffered three successive relegations while out on temporary moves.

Chelsea fans on Twitter expressed their surprise at the news that Ampadu is now their longest serving player.

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One said: “Has he worn the shirt for anything else than pre season promo pictures”

Another wrote: “How is he still only 22?”

While a third added: “Deserves a chance in my opinion.”

The Evening Standard report that coach Mauricio Pochettino does not see a future for Ampadu at Chelsea and will make him train with Carlo Cudicini’s ‘loan squad’.

Cudicini is overseeing the training of the club’s Under-21s and wantaway players such as Lukaku.

If the club were to find a move for Ampadu this summer, their longest serving player would become Kepa Arrizabalaga, who has been at the club since August 2018.

The club’s next longest serving player is Callum Hudson-Odoi, who has been linked with a move to Nottingham Forest and Saudi Arabia.

Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk