Swans return to Falkirk to capture young left-back Stephen Kingsley
Youth youth youth! That seems the buzz-word at the moment, and given the success of his former (and now current) teammate Jay Fulton it's easy to see why the Swans have stumped up a fee believed to be just short of a million pound to take Stephen Kingsley from The Bairns.
Like Fulton, Kingsley has played over one hundred games for the Falkirk first team and given their ages (Kingsley is still only nineteen, Fulton just twenty) I'm assuming they came through the youth system there together. It's also good that, I'd imagine, Fulton was consulted about Kingsley (or perhaps young Falkirk players in general), and if that's the case it'll help him feel he's a part of the team and that his opinion counts. The more we can build a close-knit environment, and further the family feel at the club, the better.
Kingsley made his debut aged just sixteen, but was then sent off in his second game for Falkirk and didn't feature again that season. That hasn't stopped him though - he's now amassed 108 appearances, and was voted in the Scottish Championship Team of the Season for 2013/14. Not bad for a nineteen-year old!
We've seen with Fulton - and the Monk has commented on - that having played so many first team games by that kind of age puts you ahead of most youth players who've only featured for development sides and the like. Hopefully Kingsley will have a similar tenacity and coolness under pressure. I can;t say I know anything of note about him, but I'll endeavour to do some research in the next few days.
With luck, Kingsley will be good enough to force his way into the first-team on the same timeframe as his compatriot Fulton. We can only hope!