Republic of Ireland U-21 midfielder Kwame Ampadu briefly sampled top-flight football with Arsenal.
Signing professional at Highbury in November 1988, he made his First Division debut as a substitute in Arsenal's 3-1 victory at Derby County in February 1990 and also appeared in the 1-0 win over Everton a week later.
He was sold to West Brom for £50,000 in June 1991 and helped them win promotion in 1992/93.
Moving to Swansea City for £15,000 in February 1994, he featured in their 1994 Autoglass Trophy final triumph and has since played for Leyton Orient, Exeter City, Newport County and Tiverton. (With thanks to Leigh Edwards)
WHAT THE FANS SAID:
We were having a kickabout at Hackney when a group asked us if we wanted to have a little match. Anyway I was assigned to mark this skinny little kid because he was really skillful and really fast. I was known as an assassin of this type of player, as I was a bit of a dirty so and so. This kid kept roasting me time and again. I couldn't get nowhere near him. All the time though I kept thinking this kid reminds me of someone but I couldn't put my finger on it. After the game finshed I walked over to him and told him he was top quality and he could make it in the game. On the bus back to finsbury park, me and my mates were talking all things Arsenal and we started to talk about some of the young players coming through when it hit me that the kid was Kwame Ampadu. My mates still doubted this was the case. When I got home I got out some of my programes for that season and low and behold there was an article about Kwame, this confirmed it was him. About a month later I see him again watching a match in Hackney and I went over to him. To my surprise he remembered me as the guy who kept trying to kick him! We had a laugh about it and talked about Arsenal and football in general. He was a really nice kid and I wished him all the best.
Charalambos Charalambous, Chingford
