Connor: Swans can be proud

11th October
First team

Connor Roberts reckons the make-up of Ryan Giggs’s Wales squad is a feather in the cap for Swansea City.

Roberts hopes to win his fifth senior cap when Wales face Spain at the Principality Stadium tonight.

There could be a senior international bow for another Swans academy product, Joe Rodon, after the central defender was called up by Giggs this week.

Roberts started Wales’s last international, in Denmark last month, alongside two more Swans youth graduates, Ben Davies and Joe Allen.

Jazz Richards is another member of Giggs’s squad who learned his trade in SA1.

And Roberts believes the Swans deserve plaudits for the group of Wales players they nurtured.

“I am so proud to be one of the Welsh lads who has come through the system and to be playing for the club and for Wales,” the right-back said.

“When I played the other week for Wales I was alongside Ben Davies and Joe Allen.

“For a relatively small club like us, it is great to see so many players in the Wales squad – and I think more and more will start to push their way into first-team football and into the Wales set-up.”

Roberts has cemented his place in the Swans side – and is making a big impression in a Welsh shirt – having been given a first-team chance by Carlos Carvalhal back in January.

He has since been joined in the Swans’ senior squad by a host of other academy products, including Wales colleague Rodon.

“It is great to see more youngsters coming through the system,” Roberts added.

“I don’t feel like they are youngsters anymore because so many other young players are coming through like Joe and Daniel James.

“There is nothing better than playing for the club I love alongside other boys who love the club too.”