Josh Marsh | Academy will be important piece of the jigsaw

Josh Marsh says Swansea City’s academy will be an important piece of the jigsaw when it comes to the club’s football infrastructure going forward.

The club’s academy has a proud tradition of producing players for the first team, with Cameron Congreve being the latest to make the step up from youth football to the first team environment last season.

Ben Cabango also surpassed 100 appearances for the club after coming through the ranks, following in the footsteps of the likes of Joe Rodon and Connor Roberts.

And Marsh – who was recently appointed as the club’s new head of football operations - believes the academy will continue have a key role to play going forward.

“There’s a good history of success from the academy,” he said.

“For the model in terms of the make-up of the first team squad and how that looks, it’s imperative that young players do get through.

“The same principles exist; you’ve got to get the identification and recruitment right but you’ve also got to get the right things in place across all the departments to develop players.

“Also, in terms of my conversations with Russell [Martin] and Julian [Winter], you’ve also got to provide opportunity for young players.

“You can’t block pathways, so I think it’s just a balance of all those things. But the academy will play a big part in what we do.”