Manchester United and Arsenal target Ethan Ampadu wins man-of-the-match award on debut aged just 15
Defensive starlet became Exeter City's youngest ever player last night while Fulham's Ryan Sessegnon also starred in EFL Cup
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ETHAN AMPADU became the youngest player to play for Exeter City aged just 15 years and 331 days - and won Man of the Match.
The Manchester United and Arsenal target, who can play anywhere across the back four, starred with a mature display as League 2 Grecians beat Championship side Brentford 1-0.
Ampadu broke Exeter's record set by the great Cliff Bastin, who was 16 years and one month when he made his Grecians debut back in 1928 - before to leaving for the Gunners, where he became their third all-time leading goalscorer.
The Wales Under-16 international was only called up to the first-team because he is on school holiday.
Ampadu is reportedly wanted by all the country's top clubs and has been hard at work impressing first-team staff while on his summer holiday, having not even done his GCSE's.
Ethan is the son of former West Brom, Swansea, Leyton Orient and Exeter midfielder Kwame Ampadu - who is currently an academy coach at Arsenal.
He spent the end of last season training with Wales prior to their European Championship campaign having REJECTED the chance to play for England in favour of the land of his mother's birth.
Ampadu starred in the heart of Exeter's defence on a night of few chances, before Ryan Harley slid a fine shot into the bottom corner from 18 yards for the only goal of the game.
And Exeter boss Paul Tidsdale was full of praise for the highly-rated youngster. He told : "The biggest compliment I can give him is that he plays like a 35-year-old.
"That's not normally the English way - we like drama, we like spark. But we don't often encourage and cultivate subtle, classy players, and he's one of those."
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"He finished school and he came straight in to train with the first team. I said 'come in when you want and if you want to go on holiday with your family then you go away' - well he's been in every day over his school holidays.
"It became particularly apparent within three or four weeks that the rest of the squad suddenly had the utmost respect for his ability to play and they treated him like any other first-team player.
"That's often a really good clue, the senior first-team players instantly accepted him as one of them and treated him as such. That's a really good indicator to a manager, the fact that those players accepted him in and he has just looked the part."
Ampadu was not the only hot prospect to star last night, with 16-year-old left-sided player starring for Fulham as they beat League 2 Leyton Orient 3-2.
Sessegnon is regarded as one of the brightest young prospects in England and has been compared to a young Gareth Bale.
Arsenal tried to sign him in January but failed with a bid, but are still interested in him, while Liverpool are also in the race for his signature.
And Cottagers' boss Slavisa Jokanovic has tipped him to be an important player in English football - but thinks he should not leave and continue his promising development at Craven Cottage.
He said: “He's one of the Fulham project. He had a great pre-season. Ryan Sessegnon is a talented boy.
“I'm sure he'll participate in the competitions this year. We have to assess him and we have to help him.
“He's still working in the Championship with competition from other players. He's still a boy so he needs to grow up.
"We have to care about him. I believe in the future he'll be an important player in English football. This boy needs time.”