I knew I had to do well there because I wasn’t going to be staying at Chelsea.”įormer Republic of Ireland youth international Alan McCormack was a right-back at Brentford between 20 and by the time Swift joined on loan in October 2015, was an established youth international for England. The first one, I didn’t do that well the second one at Swindon, I did okay and had a run of games and then it was Brentford last season.
“At Chelsea, you see really good players going out on loan, going back and then going out on loan again,” Swift told The News in 2017. It was a period of success and growth with Brentford in the 2015-16 season, approximately six miles west of Stamford Bridge, that encouraged Swift to take the plunge and move on from the club where he had spent much of his childhood. Still, I thought his future was probably not at Chelsea by the time he went on his third loan, unfortunately.” Perhaps if he broke through alongside Mason Mount, Tammy Abraham and Reece James a few seasons later, he would have had an opportunity under the transfer embargo. It must have been amazing for him because there aren’t many, particularly during the period under Jose Mourinho, that got their chance. He got one appearance for the first team, coming off the bench for Eden Hazard. “At the end of the day, it comes down to opportunities. “He broke through as an under-15 in the Milk Cup, which was a big academy trophy they used to have at the time, and I remember noticing him with his long hair and a hairband he used to wear,” says Scott Clayton, known as CarefreeYouth on Twitter, an account dedicated to monitoring players in Chelsea’s academy. He made progress, ending the season as a mainstay under reserves manager Dermot Drummy, but there was a feeling among some keen followers of the Chelsea academy that his long-term future may lie elsewhere. He was even called up to the reserves for the last fixture of the season against Manchester United and made his debut in a side including highly rated prospect Lucas Piazon, future England internationals Nathaniel Chalobah and Patrick Bamford, and Romelu Lukaku.Īlthough many in the club expected him to kick on alongside Loftus-Cheek and Baker to become fully fledged members of the reserve side, Swift spent much of the 2012-13 season in between the under-18s and under-21s. His languid and silky style, playing alongside Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Lewis Baker - now at Stoke City - in the midfield drew the attention of supporters during the successful 2011-12 FA Youth Cup campaign. He was deployed primarily as a No 8, contributing with goals and assists from a deeper position as midfield team-mates roamed around him. Returning for the start of the 2011-12 season, Swift jumped to the under-18s. Despite an academy packed with youth internationals, he solidified himself within the starting XI over the next two seasons until he suffered a long-term injury in 2011.
#Grace guts and goals trial
Scouts from Fulham showed interest, as well as Southampton and Portsmouth, but, following a silky performance in midfield, Chelsea invited Swift for a trial and he joined shortly afterwards as an under-14 in 2008-09. As well as maintaining a close eye on the talent through their respective scouting systems, clubs frequently arrange friendlies between academy clubs and Pace Youth to monitor the latest stars the club has developed.īy the time Swift’s under-13s played Chelsea, he had developed his physical and technical capacity and was being monitored by Category One academies throughout the south of England.
#Grace guts and goals professional
Coaches and scouts from professional clubs near and far, including Portsmouth, Southampton, Arsenal and Chelsea, keep a close tab on the development of their players with regular visits from scouts. Instead, aged 10, he joined Pace Youth, an amateur club in the Totton area of Southampton.Īlthough most amateur clubs face teams of similar levels, Pace Youth is notorious on the south coast for churning out first-class talent.
His introduction to academy football came at Portsmouth but he was released after one season. The commentator described the sequence as “Brazilian football in Berkshire”, and from his childhood, Swift has been a talent capable of quality worthy of the famous yellow, green and blue. Then, he cushioned a perfectly weighted touch into his stride and zipped a pass into striker Lucas Joao to complete another one-two, setting him off into the box, where he slid a shot past Daniel Iversen into the goal, via the post. On this occasion, he slipped the ball through Alan Browne’s legs for a quick one-two with Josh Laurent.
0 kommentar(er)
