Leeds United parade transfer rumour truth revealed and Ethan Ampadu 'Real Betis' antics explained — YEP 6/5/25

By Graham Smyth

A 21-year-old's laundry situation sparked a Leeds United summer transfer window rumour on the day of their promotion parade.

Paraag Marathe, Daniel Farke, his staff, the squad and a host of club officials boarded three open-top buses for a one-mile tour of the city centre on Bank Holiday Monday. Leeds City Council have estimated that 150,000-plus packed the route with fans flooding into the city from early on in the morning to get the best vantage points. There were supporters up trees, traffic lights, bus shelters, on balconies, scaffolding, steps and at any window that overlooked incredible scenes as flares and fireworks greeted the Championship title winners.

Star of the show throughout an unforgettable day was Leeds captain Ethan Ampadu, who showed little interest in being interviewed on the bus by the club's in-house media channel and instead preferred to take control of the microphone and lead the city centre in renditions of various songs and chants. A visibly 'merry' Ampadu started the singing in tribute to numerous team-mates including Manor Solomon, Ilia Gruev, Joe Rodon and Patrick Bamford. He also mischievously sang a song encouraging Sam Byram to remain at the club for two more years.

Ethan Ampadu’s ‘transfer rumour’

But the skipper was also incorrectly attributed with breaking a transfer secret during the parade. Viewers of the club's live stream mistakenly took Ampadu's yelling of 'Betis, Betis, Real Betis' into the microphone while next to Junior Firpo as a hint that the left-back is set for a return to his home town club in Spain. Firpo joined Betis as a teenager and played two seasons of La Liga football as a youngster before moving to Barcelona. He recently told the YEP that the love for him at his first club was mutual.

Ampadu's excitement was not an over-excited leak of football transfer business, however. The Welsh international had simply spotted a Real Betis shirt in the crowd. It was worn by lifelong Leeds supporter Noel, 21, who later outed himself on social media with pictorial evidence that he was the subject of Ampadu's shouts.

"I didn’t have much time to get anything washed so just grabbed that," he told the YEP. "I didn’t remember Firpo played there until Ampadu shouted at me. I thought it was brilliant, looking on Twitter and seeing Betis fans getting excited was a sweetener. It was a top day out."

Junior Firpo contract situation

Firpo later appeared on Jayden Bogle's live video broadcast on Instagram and jokingly told club chairman Marathe to 'send the ting' in reference to a new deal. Firpo, along with Byram and Josuha Guilavogi, is out of contract this summer. Bogle then encouraged his fellow full-back to 'sign the ting' as they partied in a city centre pub. In an exclusive interview with the YEP after promotion was sealed Firpo admitted he still had no idea what the club's plans were for his future but said he and his family love living here and he's enjoying his relationship with supporters.

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