Naivety has been one of the learning curves that Leeds United have had to wrestle with in the Premier League this season. Despite having had a stellar nine months, Daniel Farke’s squad will head away on their summer holidays wondering how many more points they could have snared by gaming the system in 2025-26.
They have learnt, the hard way, that match officials cannot always be trusted to spot everything, even those in the VAR role at Stockley Park. On more than one occasion, manager Farke has questioned whether his players can be too honest when they are clearly fouled.
If they complained more or stayed down for longer when they had been hurt, would they have seen more decisions go their way? Sadly, in modern football, the more ferocious your protest or the more severe your pain, the more likely an incident is going to be reviewed.
There are two good examples from the past two months involving the same Leeds player. At Elland Road in March, Sunderland’s Luke O’Nien had his arms around Pascal Struijk’s neck before hurling him to the floor during a corner.
Then in April’s FA Cup sixth-round match at West Ham United, Axel Disasi’s boot connected with Struijk’s head as he equalised for the hosts. On both occasions, you cannot help wondering if each would have been called fouls had the Leeds defender made a meal of his reactions.
After the West Ham incident, Farke said: “If Pascal Struijk goes down and rolls around, I think it’s definitely ruled out. You can say we have to be a bit less naive.
“Perhaps he should pretend to be hit in the face. We will learn to be, perhaps, a bit more smart in how we react.”
Thankfully for Leeds, on another night he led from the front, captain Ethan Ampadu demonstrated the kind of nous required. Post-match, the scuff on the side of his head left nobody in any doubt about the whack he took from Mathys Tel’s boot.
And yet, you wonder, if Ampadu had got up and brushed himself off, whether VAR would have acted on an incident referee Jarred Gillett had no interest in. Not only did he ignore any prospect of a foul but he failed to even stop the match the head injury that Ampadu sustained as a result of Tel’s misjudged overhead kick during Monday’s 1-1 draw at Tottenham Hotspur.
Ampadu knew what was needed to ensure the right decision — Dominic Calvert-Lewin scored the resultant penalty to level things up — was reached. Post-match, he told the club’s YouTube channel: “I definitely felt contact and you just have to stay down, wait for VAR to do the job if the referee might not have seen it. There’s no question it was a penalty. I’m not sure what took so long.”
Ethan Ampadu won Leeds a penalty when he was caught by Mathys Tel’s acrobatic attempted clearance (Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)
Ampadu’s got that mental edge to him. He’s approaching the end of his second season as captain and is flourishing in the role. In the heat of battle, he has that clarity of thought, that needle that a team’s leader needs. He does what is required.
Just look to the touchline at Wembley in the FA Cup semi-final against Chelsea last month. Ampadu channelled the anger of an entire fanbase with his sprint to take part in Leeds’ opponents’ injury-enabled team talk.
Even without winning a crucial penalty, the 25-year-old was excellent at Tottenham on Monday. A little over 24 hours after Premier League survival had been confirmed, it was on Ampadu to set the tone in what was, for all intents and purposes, a dead rubber for United.
He caught the eye and he has been doing so consistently for several months. As we approach the final knockings of this campaign, opinions have been posed and crystallised on Ampadu as a Premier League operator. He is not an unknown quantity at this level anymore.
With Leeds’ league status secure, attention, at least outside a dressing room still fighting for points, inevitably turns to 2026-27. Elland Road’s key decision-makers need to decide who they want to build their top-flight organisation around and ensure that they are tied down.
Farke’s own future, uncertain beyond June 2027, needs to be resolved after a run of four defeats in 23 league games. Ampadu’s, though, has to be right up there on the list of priorities.
After Monday’s draw, Farke was asked in his press conference how much of a priority a new contract for Ampadu was. He wanted to address it another time, away from the emotions of a matchday, but asked for fans to read between the lines.
“You know how much I value him and what I think about him,” he said. “I’ve also told myself I won’t speak about the future. I won’t speak about what will happen in the summer until everything is confirmed.”
Ethan Ampadu disrupts his old side Chelsea’s in-game team talk during last month’s FA Cup semi-final at Wembley (Ben Stansall/AFP via Getty Images)
Ampadu’s contract expires at the end of next season but the club does have the option to extend it by a further 12 months to June 2028. Triggering that option feels rather unnecessary, though. Securing Ampadu’s future with a longer-term deal after three years at the club, with two as captain, a 100-point title campaign and an outstanding first year in the top flight feels sensible.
It sets the table for the next few years, let alone this summer. It sends a message of ambition to the rest of the squad and the wider marketplace: that Ampadu is the ideal cornerstone and figurehead of United’s next iteration.
That’s before you come to the inevitable conclusion that other clubs may circle. They see what every Leeds fan sees. It’s a fanbase which does not need reminding how sought-after British defensive midfielders in their mid-20s can be.
There has been an ongoing dialogue between Leeds and Ampadu’s representatives about a new contract. Confirmation of the club’s Premier League status will only aid those talks, of which, The Athletic understands, there is expected to be another round before the end of this week.
If naivety’s been a crease to iron out for the players on the pitch this season, United’s executives need to ensure there’s no danger of anything similar playing out from them this summer. Tying down their captain promptly makes total sense.
