Luke Williams excited by emerging talent ahead of academy matchday
Luke Williams has praised the “fantastic” work being done at the Swansea City academy as the club prepares to celebrate the talent production line at Saturday’s fixture against Stoke City.
The matchday against the Potters is dedicated to the academy, which has helped bring through players of the calibre of Joe Allen, Ben Davies, Connor Roberts, Joe Rodon, Dan James, Ben Cabango, Liam Cullen and Ollie Cooper over the years.
Sam Parker, Aimar Govea and Filip Lissah have been the latest to make the step up to senior level, and head coach Williams has hailed the importance of the player development pathway in SA1.
“The level of talent coming through is brilliant, it is so exciting because we are trying to train a lot more with that group (under-21s) this season,” he said.
“The staff at the academy are doing incredible things because they are trying to restructure a lot things to open up the pathway to more players.
“I think this is really fantastic.
“It can be difficult because people in football want to win every single game, but sometimes the development of the player is more important than winning the game.
“You may play a team that is not the absolute best or first choice, because you want to give the younger players that exposure and you want to push them.
“That then leaves the next group behind them a bit lighter too. That can make it difficult to win, but you look at our academy and they are managing to open those pathways while still being able to win games. That is great.”
Williams and academy manager Gavin Levey have spoken of the alignment work being done across the senior and development set-ups.
In addition to younger players earning the chance to experience training with the first team, there have always been regular staff presentations and placements across all levels of the age-grade system to encourage an open sharing of ideas and working practices.
And Williams highlighted the importance in that process of staff members who have worked across academy and senior levels, such as first-team coach Kris O’Leary, who spent a number of years coaching in the academy.
“We have a key member of staff in our first team in Kris O’Leary. He works with us every day, but he knows every single player at this club, and I mean every single player,” added Williams.
“He knows every single thing about every player, he is like an encyclopedia so we have that person who is a Jack, who is Swansea through and through, he has been involved with the club for 30 years.
“There is nothing he hasn’t seen, he can remember Joe Allen as a young prospect. I don’t want to make Kris feel old, but having that person in the staff who understands everything about the first team, that understands everything about the academy, and then you add in the fantastic staff working every day at the academy, that has to be a good thing.
“We have to look after this and we have to make sure we communicate really well. We are all trying and we have the young players come in to train with us a lot, we don’t change the session for them so they get the experience of seeing how players operate at this level.
“It’s really exciting.”