Jamal Lowe | Hunger to succeed makes Swansea City move the perfect package

Jamal Lowe feels his own hunger for success is mirrored by that at Swansea City after completing his move from Wigan Athletic for an undisclosed fee, subject to international clearance. 

The 26-year-old has become the latest acquisition of a busy start to the transfer window for the Swans, with Korey Smith, Freddie Woodman, Morgan Gibbs-White and Marc Guehi having already signed on at the Liberty.

Lowe - who has signed a three-year contract with an option for an additional 12 months in SA1 - appeared in all 46 of Wigan’s Championship fixtures last term following his move from Portsmouth, scoring six goals.

The forward’s career story is far from typical, with Lowe spending four seasons in non-league after initially breaking through at Barnet.

But he re-emerged in the EFL after 29 goals in 48 games for Hampton & Richmond Borough attracted the attentions of Portsmouth and ex-Swansea boss Kenny Jackett.

Lowe – who was combining his football with a job as a PE teacher at the time - has not looked back since.

And when he spoke to Steve Cooper about his move to SA1, he felt the club’s mindset and environment dovetailed perfectly with his own.

“The conversations I’ve had with the gaffer has made a positive impression on me,” he said.

“Also, the stature and size of the club is something you cannot escape. 

“You cannot ignore it, and every time the gaffer spoke to me, he told me the story of what he is looking for and I completely bought into it.

“He spoke about the hunger of the players, he spoke about what a tight-knit squad there is here, and that is massive for me.

“Some clubs have not got the right environment for it all to fully flourish, but this sounded like the perfect package and a good fit for me. 

“Earlier in my career I had four years out of the EFL, and I was hungry to get back in. I was never going to let the chance go when it came up, and it’s meant I have had to mature quickly.

“It’s the same with the move here, I will give 100 per cent week in and week out.”

Lowe played in both the Latics’ games against the Swans last season, with Cooper’s side emerging 2-1 victors on both occasions.

He admits Swansea’s style of play in those games made an impression on him, not that Lowe’s admiration for that philosophy only emerged recently.

A quick look at his Twitter timeline reveals a series of tweets from 2011 where he applauds Swansea’s passing game.

“Obviously Swansea are a great footballing side, both times we played against them they passed us off the park, to be fair,” says Lowe.

“That did not happen to Wigan too much last season, so it made an impression.

“Someone also dug out some old tweets of mine from 2011 when I was tweeting about Swansea. I was tweeting about them then and I’m sure I’ll be tweeting plenty about them now.

“I enjoyed watching that side play. That was the first season in the Premier League and they had such a dynamic way of playing.

“That was a philosophy that was not really seen in the Premier League at that time probably, it just changed the game really.”

Now he is part of the Swansea set-up, and having watched Cooper’s side get within tantalising reach of the Premier League, Lowe is desperate to help his new club go a step further.

And with the opening game of the season against Preston looming rapidly on the horizon, he cannot wait to get down to work his new team-mates and coaching staff.

“I am just buzzing to finally be here, it has been a long time in the process and it’s great to get it over the line,” he said.

“I have shown I can perform at this level, that was a real test for me last season with it being my first year in the Championship.

“I want to kick on from here now.”