Club stalwart Kyle Naughton to bring down the curtain on decade-long Swansea City career

Swansea City defender Kyle Naughton will bring down the curtain on over a decade with the club when we face Oxford United this weekend.

The 36-year-old, whose contract is up this summer, will leave the Swans having been an important figure ever since first arriving from Tottenham in January of 2015.

Across 329 appearances, with the prospect of one still to go against the U’s at the Swansea.com Stadium on the final day of the season, Naughton has been a club stalwart and one of its most consistent and reliable performers.

In his Swans career, Naughton has featured as a full-back, centre-back, sweeper, wing-back and central midfield, and proved adept wherever he has been tasked with playing in the white shirt.

It is telling that arguably one of his most memorable moments in a Swansea shirt came just last March when, having clearly suffered a hamstring injury in the south Wales derby, he battled through the pain barrier to make sure he beat a blue shirt to a ball in behind the defence and cleared.

His enduring quality is underlined by the high regard he has been held in by a succession of Swansea coaches and managers.

Graham Potter rated him as the most technically gifted player in his squad during the 2018-19 season, while Steve Cooper, Russell Martin, Luke Williams and Alan Sheehan have all praised his professionalism and unhurried class.

Following that move from Spurs, he helped the Swans secure an eighth place finish in the Premier League; the second-highest finish the club has ever achieved in the football pyramid.

After relegation from the top-flight, Naughton was a prominent figure in helping secure back-to-back play-off appearances in 2019 and 2020, although in each of those years Brentford would scupper his and Swansea’s hopes of returning to the highest echelon of English football.

He has continued to be an assured and calming presence in recent seasons, starting both games of the first south Wales derby double as the Swans racked up emphatic 3-0 and 4-0 victories.

He will bow out against Oxford, where he will make a 300th league appearance in Swansea colours if called upon.

Just like Joe Allen, who has confirmed he will retire following Saturday’s game, Naughton has always preferred to forego the spotlight, and is typically self-effacing and humble when assessing his own career.

But the calibre of clubs he has represented, and the longevity of a career spelt at such high levels of the game, is a testimony to his enduring quality on and off the pitch.

We know all Swans fans will join us in wishing Kyle and his family all the best for the future. 

Thank you, Naughts. Once a Jack, Always a Jack.