'Top drawer' - Tim Sherwood urges Man Utd to sign £7m ex-Chelsea star

Former Premier League midfielder Tim Sherwood (Picture: Getty)

Tim Sherwood believes that Manchester United should pursue a deal for former Chelsea player Ethan Ampadu to bolster their defensive options this summer.

Ampadu spent six years at Stamford Bridge but failed to establish himself as a first-team regular before being sold to Leeds United for just £7million in 2023.

However, the Welshman has thrived under Daniel Farke’s tutelage, helping to captain Leeds to the Championship title last season and continuing to impress upon their return to the Premier League .

But despite them now looking poised to avoid the drop this season, Sherwood believes that Leeds may have a fight on their hands to keep hold of their captain this summer.

And the former Premier League winner has earmarked Manchester United as a potential destination for the 25-year-old.

‘I think Leeds still need a point, maybe a point, but I think that result away at Old Trafford was just immense for them,’ Sherwood told Boyle Sports .

‘But when I look through their team, and I see players like Ethan Ampadu, and I look at him, I think at the beginning of the season, if Tottenham said they were going to buy Ethan Ampadu, all their fans would have said no to him joining.

Ethan Ampadu has impressed for Leeds United this season (Picture: Getty)

‘He’s been a young boy, come through the divisions, but I would have him in a heartbeat.

‘I would take him if I was manager of Man United. He’s good enough. He’s a leader. He’s only a young man.

‘He’s got a lot of experience under his belt, but he knows he picks the right pass at the right time. He defends for his life. Everything he does is for the collective, for the team.

Manchester United have been touted as a potential destination for Ampadu (Picture: Getty)

‘He’s got no self-indulgence in him. He is a top drawer player.’

Speaking recently, Michael Carrick suggested that talks are already underway about the club’s summer transfer plans, even if his own long-term future at Old Trafford remains up in the air.

‘Listen, there are kind of stages to go through in terms of the summer,’ Carrick said earlier this month.

‘There are decisions to be made, of course there is, but then also timing’s a thing,” Carrick told reporters.

‘Obviously, my situation’s one thing, so it’s just working through that. There are certainly conversations to be going [on] because it’s natural, but in terms of an official kind of, ‘this is what’s going to happen exactly’, that’s not something that I’ve committed to recruitment-wise.

‘But we’ve certainly had conversations and that’s just natural. But I’m not really making a big thing of it, to be honest. I think that’ll happen in time anyway.’