Mark Goddard is back with another excellent blog, this time looking at Swansea’s amazing collection of World Champions.
Swansea’s 2019/20/21 squads have contained no fewer than seven World Champions. It’s well known that manager Steve Cooper led England U17s to World Cup glory in 2017. Many of those young champions have gone on to establish impressive football careers. They are joined by an U20 World Cup winner, Swans talisman and Ghana captain Andre Ayew.
Here is a run-down of Swansea’s world champions.
Steve Cooper
Pontypridd born Cooper was head coach of the England U17 team that reached glory in India, hammering Spain 5-2 in the final. Named Championship manager of the month for Jan 2021, he has a very impressive career win ratio of 56.7% and has only seen the Swans lose 21 times out of 83 matches. We need to keep hold of him!
Joel Latibeaudiere
Captain of Cooper’s U17 squad, centre back Latibeaudiere was signed by the Swans in October 2020 on a 3 year deal. He has only made a handful of appearances so far but at 21 years of age should settle nicely into the Swans 1st team soon. He has a fantastic leap and looks a real threat at set pieces.
Marc Guéhi
A key member of Cooper’s U17 squad Guéhiis enjoying a second season on loan at Swansea. He is rapidly establishing himself as one of the best central defenders in the Championship and I voted him my ‘Swan of the season so far’ back in December. I believe he will sadly be leaving the Swans at the end of this season to join the Chelsea 1st team squad and fight for a Premier league starting position. But all Swans fans will be hoping we can persuade him to stay.
Morgan Gibbs-White
Another U17 squad member, Gibbs-White set the Liberty on fire when he joined on loan from Wolves at the start of this season. His dribbling skills and passing ability were sublime but sadly enjoyed for such a short time by the Jack Army. An injury put him on the sidelines and then he was recalled by Wolves where he has criminally only been used as a bit part player off the bench. Will he regret leaving the Swans?
Conor Gallagher and Rhian Brewster
Both established players in Cooper’s U17 squad and both joined the Swans on loan last season. Chelsea’s Gallagher is currently playing in the Premier league on loan for West Brom. An intelligent midfielder with defence splitting passing ability, he played a solid role for the Swans. Brewster won the golden boot at the U17 tournament and played a massive part in the Swans play-off team last season. He scored 11 goals in 22 appearances and that earned him a permanent move to Sheffield Utd.
Andre Ayew
Cooper calls him our talisman and no Swans fan would argue with that. Ayew captained Ghana to U20 World Cup glory, beating Brazil in the 2009 final. Since then Ayew has gone on to become an African footballing legend playing 91 times for the Black Stars and scoring 19 goals. His club career has seen him make 466 appearances, scoring 122 goals.
He is currently enjoying a second spell with the Swans and at 31 helps bring vast experience to this young squad. So far this season he has netted 9 times. The latest being the opener v Norwich in a top of the table clash but, one aspect of his game is taking pressure off the team. With much opposition manager pre-match talk revolving around Ayew, the spotlight isn’t on young Swans. And it’s a pressure Ayew relishes.
Responsibility and maturity
Speaking to WalesOnline’s Ian Mitchelmore he said “We have a lot of young players in the squad so it’s my responsibility to help them. They help me with assists, but the praise I get and the stuff I do on the pitch wouldn’t be possible without them. Thanks to the guys, the gaffer, and the staff for putting me in a position to perform. I’m here to take the pressure off the boys and take responsibility. I can’t run away or hide from that.”
For me, when Ayew is making a darting dribble into the box, he is at his most dangerous. He has a fantastic ability to shift defenders off balance and put stinging shots in. The Jack Army have enjoyed this sight many times this season. If we can keep him fit, we should enjoy an exciting end to our season. On his day he is the best attacker in the Championship. He shows real Premier league quality and it’s a talent and presence we want to see for a little bit longer please.
Looking ahead
So, there you go, seven World Champions who have or are plying their trade at the Liberty. Can Cooper bring any more of his young champions to the Liberty? I hope so because he has a knack of bringing in young players and turning them into 1st team regulars. But wouldn’t it be nice to see a young Welsh national team showing the world how good they are soon?
IMAGES: Ayew Pierre-Yves Beaudouin / Wikimedia Commons
West side of the Liberty Stadium, Swansea
cc-by-sa/2.0 – © Jaggery – geograph.org.uk/p/6000416