Getting to know. . . Jack Evans

As part of our Swans Academy content, we speak to an upcoming talent within the youth ranks at the club.
Next under the spotlight is under-18s midfielder Jack Evans, who talks aboutgrowing up with the Academy, an ambition to become Swansea's next Leon Britton and making his Under-21s debut.

The road to professional football is a long and difficult journey for a number of young players across the world.
Only a handful of youngsters rise through the ranks from start to finish and get a chance to earn a professional contract at the club where it all started.
Swansea-born midfielder Jack Evans is currently one of the young Swans players to have made the long journey from the Under-9s through to becoming a scholar with the academy's Under-18s.
Evans first joined Swansea's youth ranks in 2005 when the club were in League Two and the academy was competing at a category three level.



"The academy has grown so much since I first started playing here," says the teenager.
"It has been a great experience to grow up with the Swans - football has literally been my life since I was eight.
"We used to play our games down the Elba in Gowerton, which had very different facilities compared to what we have now at Landore."
Evans signed his Swans scholarship in June 2014 alongside eight other home-grown players, which remains one of his proudest accomplishments to date.
"It was a brilliant feeling to sign my scholarship with the Swans," he adds. "Most of the boys I signed with are still here - some of us have been playing together since we were eight years old.
"Lewis (Thomas), Joe (Rodon), Aaron (Lewis) and Tom (Dyson) have all been here with me since the start.
"We are a tight knit group, both on and off the field, and it has been great to grow up with them as footballers.
"We have experienced moving up from category three to category one together, which has been a massive step up.
"The level of experience is huge. You play the likes of Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham - huge clubs that have outstanding facilities.
"In category three, we would play smaller clubs, while now we are up against some of the Premier League's best young players."



Like a number of local boys, Evans has been cheering on the Swans from a young age and aspires to follow in the footsteps of his heroes.
"I watched my first game at the Vetch Field when I was around five," says Evans. "I was too young to even remember who we played that day, but I was hooked from the start. The atmosphere was amazing and I knew it was something I wanted to do.
"Leon Britton was - and still is - one of my favourite players and he is someone that I admire.
"He plays the same position as me and I like to model my style on him. He is a hard-working midfielder who likes to keep the ball and play a simple attacking style of football.
"It would be great to chat to him one day to see what it has been like to rise with Swansea through every division."
Despite a tough start to life in category one football, the Under-18s have found their feet in the division.



"It has been a tough start - we knew our first season would be a tough step up," admits Evans. "It is a faster and more physical pace of game compared to when we were playing in category two.
"The results might not have gone our way at the beginning of the season, but we knew we had to keep working hard to continue to develop on and off the pitch.
"We all started to see improvements to our game and slowly things have started to gel for us.
"We have earned some good results so far, including a draw against Arsenal before away wins against Leicester and Southampton.
"It was hard at the start but we are at a good stage now where we are starting to be competitive against some big teams."