Ollie Cooper | Hard work in Austrian heat can pay dividends

Midfielder Ollie Cooper believes a week working in the Austrian heat can pay dividends for Swansea City when the Championship campaign gets under way.

The Wales international is among the group working with head coach Luke Williams and his staff at their base near the town of Stegersbach, and the Swans have been welcomed by soaring temperatures.

In addition to training there are friendlies against FC Köln and FK Vardar in the days ahead, and Cooper feels the chance to work together as a unit in a new environment is a real opportunity for the squad.

“It’s been really good so far,” said Cooper at the end of the first day of the camp. 

“It’s obviously good for us to get away as a group in a different environment, you get to spend a lot more time with each other, which is always good.

“We have a long week of hard work ahead, it’s absolutely boiling out here but this is a situation where you are looking to put all that work in so that it pays off and you see the benefits of it when it comes to the start of the season.

“I think when you come away together as a squad and you spend all that time together on and off the pitch it can only be a benefit.

“We also have two friendlies against the sort of opposition we do not normally get a chance to face so that will be a different challenge, but one to look forward to.”