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Paul Tisdale has revealed he called the FA over Ethan Ampadu's eligibility for England the first time he saw the teenager play.

In a long interview with the Mirror , the Exeter City boss said, when he first saw Ampadu play age 14, he was the best young player he had seen at that age.

Tisdale revealed that even then he felt the teenager, now at Chelsea, had all the attributes needed to make it to the top.

He said: "He was the best young player I have ever seen at a young age.

"I came away from the first time I watched him in a match and made a call to the English FA just to say he has English qualifications.

"He came through the ranks with us and made a youth team appearance for the U18s as a 14-year-old which is when I first really watched him play closely.

"He was a thorough-bred, even at 14.

"He started that game as a centre-midfield player, played a large part of it as a centre-forward and then went and finished up sweeper.

"What stood out most was nothing clever or elaborate or flash or sexy. It was a player who was 14 and physically could cope with it, which is a big starting point.

"But he was able to read the game and make decisions in an instant. He played like a professional player.

"It was all done in one or two touches and a second before anyone else would do it. Anything that was untidy and messy, he made tidy and made it simple.

"He made other players' jobs easier and other players better.

"In my mind that is the key part to a top player and why I phoned the English FA just to mark their card."

Tisdale also paid tribute to Ampadu and his father, Kwame, who is a former Grecians player and youth coach, and revealed that the 17-year-old is not someone who will let fame and fortune go to his head.

(Image: Getty)

He said: "He has had that home influence and his father was very clear he needed to be focused and professionally-minded, even at a young age.

"We have only ever had that impression of him as someone very driven.

"He is not a player who is going to be affected by fame and fortune.

"It was obvious he was going to go to a top club, every top club in the country was interested in signing him. We released him to go and speak to them all.

“But he was always so professional, humble and unfazed. He never had any feeling of entitlement, he would turn up in school uniform.

"He would have played a lot more games for us last season were he not at school. I remember in the play-offs we were away at Carlisle and he had GSCEs and couldn't play.

"It was not fair to expect him to do his exams and play in those games. In League Two a manager's job is no different and depends on results.

"I played him out of position as a centre-back in League Two as a 15-year-old when we were in the bottom two.

"That is a set of circumstances where managers don't usually take chances.

"Youngsters tend to make their debuts on the wing or fringes because you make a mistake at centre-back and it can be very costly.

"That gives you some context to the faith I had in him."