FACTFILE: Alfie Mawson

30th August

Alfie Mawson has built a reputation as one of the most gifted young defenders in the Football League.
Swansea City hope the 22-year-old is about to prove that he has the class to thrive in the top flight.
Mawson's move to SA1 represents another step up the ladder for a player who has enjoyed a rapid rise over the last couple of years.
Playing in the Premier League will be the biggest challenge yet for Mawson.
But the belief at the Liberty Stadium is that he has all the tools required to succeed at the highest level.
Known as someone who likes to get on the ball and play out from the back, Mawson should fit the Swans mould.
He is also a presence at set-pieces, which will make him a welcome addition at both ends of the field for a Swans side who are well aware of the need to do better in dead-ball situations.
Mawson should give his new team extra strength defensively, while his highly impressive goal record suggests that he will be a threat on the front foot too.
His primary job is to defend of course, but this is a player who scored seven goals last season and another seven in the previous campaign.
And in his four Championship games for Barnsley this season, Mawson netted twice.
Collectively, Swans defenders simply have not chipped in with enough goals in recent seasons.
The arrival of Mawson, who not only gets on the end of free-kicks but can take them himself, may help to change all that.
The new man's first challenge following his move to SA1 will be to win a place in Guidolin's side.
When Mawson was on loan in the Conference South with Maidenhead United less than three years ago, it might have been hard to imagine him playing in English football's top tier so soon.
But then Mawson's progress since then has been eye-catching.



Originally from Hillingdon, West London, Mawson had been on the books at Reading before he joined Brentford in 2010.
He signed his first professional deal two years later and made what proved to be his one senior appearance for Brentford after coming off the bench in a League Cup defeat at Derby in August 2013.
After the stint at Maidenhead - his second, having played there on loan in the previous campaign - Mawson had a couple of temporary spells in the Conference Premier, first at Luton Town and then Welling United, later in 2013-14.
But it was in the following season that he really began to make his mark.
Mawson spent the whole of 2014-15 on loan at League Two side Wycombe Wanderers, netting seven times in 50 appearances as he helped the Chairboys to the play-off final, where they lost out to Southend United.
Having cleaned up at Wycombe's end-of-season bash, Mawson turned down the offer of a new deal at Brentford - where his contract was up - and instead signed for Barnsley.
He racked up no fewer than 58 appearances for Barnsley and scored another seven goals as the Yorkshire club won the Football League Trophy and the League One play-off final.
And just as he had done at Wycombe, Mawson took all the top gongs at Barnsley's end-of-season awards bash.
And so to the Premier League.