Ethan Ampadu hopes Pascal Struijk can extend his stay at Leeds United with the vice-captain playing a “massive” role in supporting him as skipper.
Struijk is one of five United players who have a year left on their respective Leeds contracts. Ampadu was also among that cohort before he put pen to paper on a fresh four-year deal at Elland Road last week.
Struijk has played 196 senior games for Leeds having first joined from Ajax’s academy in 2020 aged 18. Leeds received at least one approach for the centre-back last summer but Daniel Farke had earmarked him as one of his core players for the upcoming season.
The 26-year-old grew in form, composure and reliability in the main as the season progressed, barring a few errors in the final weeks. Leeds face a crossroads this summer, with Struijk possibly the subject of more interest this summer given his contract status.
If Struijk stays and a new contract is not signed, the Dutchman can sign a pre-transfer agreement with overseas clubs from January and Leeds would lose him for nothing, thereby missing the opportunity to make a sizable profit on a talent they have spent many years nurturing.
Asked how much of a support Struijk has been as a vice-captain in his role of club captain, Ampadu replied: “He’s been massive. If you want to talk about how the players are, I think the whole squad in general – it’s not just, captain, vice-captain.
“I think Pascal can also give testament to every other player here. It’s a squad that’s full of leaders.
“Everyone leads in their own different ways, but it’s a squad full of leaders and a squad that wants to make sure that everyone’s keeping to the highest standards.”
Responding to the fact Struijk has just over 12 months left on his contract, Ampadu added: “I hope that everyone can be here.
“I think we’ve achieved something great this season and I believe that everyone wants to go and achieve greater things. So I think obviously it’d be very sad to see anyone going, obviously Pascal included.”