But last summer was the first post-season in five years where the Wales international didn’t have to pack any bags.

Signed by Leeds United 12 months previously, he helped form the foundations on which Daniel Farke is building their push for automatic promotion, following defeat by Southampton in the play-off final last season.

Beyond Ampadu’s talents and versatility was his growing leadership and dressing room presence, honed over the seven different professional clubs that have made up his varied CV.

That led to Farke giving Ampadu the captaincy at 23. He described the “honour” as giving him a sense of “home”, albeit with a level of responsibility he admitted is “not easy” to handle.

Ampadu made his professional debut aged 15 years, 10 months and 26 days old, against Brentford in the EFL Cup for League Two side Exeter City in 2016.

His big transfer to Chelsea came just 12 months later. A series of four loans to RB Leipzig, Sheffield United, Venezia and Spezia each arrived with their own challenges: whether it be culture, language, tactical differences or situation.

With his status in Wales’ national team, Ampadu became the fastest player to 50 caps last year, with former manager Rob Page saying he is a “future captain” for his country.

“I feel like I’ve found a home, and hopefully I can show that in performances and in the way that I am as a person. I feel like those things that I’ve experienced and lived through, I’ve had to mature quite early,” he told BBC Sport.

“I’ve lived in a few different places, experienced different cultures and see how people conduct themselves in those professional environments.

“Being trusted at 15 to play and perform to get results, I guess that’s one way I’ve had to mature. But also just being around people who are older than me for a large part of my development plays a part in it as well.

“I feel like I can come across as mature because of how I’ve been raised, but I’m sure if you were to ask a few of the boys around the training ground, they’ll probably still say I’m 24.”

Former Wales captains Gareth Bale and Ashley Williams are cited as major influences, as are Chelsea legend Cesar Azpilicueta and former Leeds centre-back Liam Cooper, who was his captain last season.

But his father Kwame Ampadu, a former footballer who coached him at Exeter, is “the first person I look up to”, but “also someone I butt heads with as a player talking to a coach”.

That influence his father passed onto him inspires his next steps, away from football, as Ampadu became a father himself in 2022.

“I’ve got a little boy, so if I can pass on and influence him to become the man that I’d like him to become – and that he wants to become when he’s older – definitely. That’s a really big part of my life at the moment,” he added.

It is rare for Ampadu to conduct a media appearance away from football, but he was offering support to Green Football’s Great Save, external, donating his first shirt as Leeds captain in a surprise appearance at a charity shop in Ripon in North Yorkshire.

“I feel like it is a time where I can portray my message,” he added. “Even if it’s just to one person, just to be able to influence one person and benefit the environment – that would be really good.

“I’m not an expert and may never be but what I want to show is that I am learning. There’s this figure -100,000 tons of sportswear end up in landfill every year – so it is about showing how to impact the environment in a positive way.”

Ampadu is currently out with a knee injury but hopes to return in time to help boost Leeds’ title push in a fierce automatic promotion battle with Sheffield United and Burnley.

“It’s the run-in,” he said. “There’s three top teams at the minute that are all fighting for the same thing – four, if you want to include Sunderland as well. But for us, we’ve got full confidence in what we can achieve.

“We’re fighting to be at the top of the league. I don’t know who wouldn’t enjoy that. It’d be silly not to. And whilst we’re in it, we’re going to try and enjoy every moment of it.”