Cooper | George Byers brings quality and composure

Steve Cooper praised the all-round quality of George Byers with competition for places in the Swansea City midfield at fever pitch.

Byers, a regular starter over the second half of last season, has started just one of the Swans three Championship games so far this term.

But he made his presence felt when introduced as a substitute against Preston, helping the hosts turn in a more fluent display in the second half.

The 23-year-old scored Swansea’s second goal, showing composure to drill a loose ball into the far corner of the net.

He will hope his showing is enough to earn a starting role at QPR on Wednesday, although there is no shortage of competition with Matt Grimes, Jay Fulton and Bersant Celina all in the midfield mix.

And Cooper was fulsome in his praise for Byers’ showing against the Lilywhites.

“I thought he was good for us. We needed a bit more control in the middle of the pitch and he gave us that,” said Cooper.

“He can play number eight and play number 10. He can make passes and shows composure.

“He did that really well and, if you can finish like that, it’s a really good quality.

“We can forget George is a young player.

“We are really happy with his progress. We need to keep working with him every day. He is a good asset to us.”