Luke Williams | Opposition manager comments underline what a special player our skipper is

Luke Williams believes Matt Grimes’ consistent excellence means he can often go under the radar, but says the recent praise the Swansea City captain has received from opposition managers underlines his importance.

Grimes, who is in his sixth season as club captain and has made over 300 appearances for the Swans, has been a key figure since Graham Potter’s tenure in charge of the club.

His ability to control and dictate play has regularly seen him rank among the Championship player with the most touches, completed passes and completed forward passes in the division.

The likes of Stoke boss Narcis Pelach and Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder have been among those to highlight Grimes’ quality when speaking to the media after recent games against the Swans.

And Williams says that shows just how well Grimes has played over a long period of time, even if he doesn’t grab the headlines.

“I think the only thing that’s unusual is that every manager does not pick out Matt Grimes,” said Williams, when asked about Pelach’s comments.

“He is a special player, I think if you are preparing your team to play against Swansea he is a big concern, because you can do a lot of work to stop Matt Grimes, but you won’t be able to stop him and that can be frustrating for opponents.

“Then, if you concentrate more on Matt Grimes, you give other people more space to work in and he is the type of character and player who will be happy to be marked by five players if it means he is able to give space to the players around him.

“Not that he needs much space, he consistently racks up a huge amount of completed passes per game. He has increased the number of passes he makes into the opposition third and the opposition box.

“In fact, against Stoke he actually bypassed the most opponents he had in any game since I have been here.

“That means he successfully passed the ball, and took out a number of opposition players time and time again. It was 160, which is outstanding in just one game.

“That’s very impressive, so I am really happy to hear him being singled out for praise because I don’t think he gets enough if I am honest.

“I don’t think there is anyone that does his role better in the division. There are players that perform at a very high level in a similar way, but there is no-one better.”