Cotterill praises Swansea City's young Welsh talent

Former Swansea City and Wales winger David Cotterill has praised the crop of young Welsh talent produced by the club’s academy in recent years.

The Swans academy has cultivated a fine crop of young Welsh stars, including the likes of Joe Allen, Ben Davies and Daniel James over the last decade and more.

The trend is continuing with Connor Roberts, Joe Rodon, Ben Cabango and Liam Cullen now all members of the club’s first-team squad after coming through the ranks of the academy.

Both Roberts and Rodon featured in Wales’ qualifiers for Euro 2020 and will have their sights set on the tournament finals, which have been postponed to 2021 due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

Cotterill, who won 24 caps for Wales and made 35 appearances for the Swans, expressed his delight at the presence of the Swans academy graduates in Ryan Giggs' side.

“The Swans Academy has been producing young Welsh talent for many years,” he said.

“It’s nice to see Swansea players getting recognised in terms of the national team and they are doing extremely well.

“I think Connor Roberts has pretty much cemented his place as right-back in the Wales squad, and I’ve watched Rodon a few times and he is doing very well too.

“I think the both of them have a great chance of playing at the Euros next year.

“It’s nice to see them all doing so well and hopefully that can continue.”