Wales debutant came through Swansea ranks before being poached by Manchester City
We're all now fairly used to the Wales team containing a healthy complement of Swansea players, and normally there's a few kicking about who've played for us in the past too. Ashley Williams, Neil Taylor & Ben Davies are all regulars, Jazz Richards has a couple of caps, plus Joe Allen, Sam Ricketts, David Cotterill, Jermaine Easter and Shaun MacDonald have all had varying degrees involvement in the last couple of years. Yesterday though, a young Manchester City midfielder named Emyr Huws made his Welsh debut and looked impressively composed throughout. For a player of such tender years to be so cool in his first appearance for his country is encouraging for Welsh fans, but for Swansea City fans the name Emyr Huws will possibly always leave them wondering what could have been.
After spending the first five years of his development at Swansea City, Huws was snared by Manchester City in 2009 and apparently the mega-rich Mancs were a touch reticent when it came to agreeing compensation. While you don't get rich signing cheques, that seems a little cheap considering the means available to them, and it seems their skinflintery has come up trumps as Huws is now looking a serious player indeed. They're reported to have paid in the region of £400k for his capture which, while it's a lot for a 15-year-old, could prove to be a bargain if he establishes himself as a Premier League regular.
I've done a bit of digging on the internet to see what reports I can find of Huws, and there's quite a bit from his first loan spell (at Northampton), as well as his current loan spell at Birmingham. Here's some quotes from Northampton fans after he joined them for a spell in late 2012/early 2013.
2-0 up against Exeter at half-time and Huws has an assist already. Two great goals so far. Fantastic volley from Bayo and Huws has embarrassed their right back for the second. Clearly above league 2 level he is!
Easily the best 45 minutes I've witnessed this season. Loving Huwseeeeee and the general work rate has impressed me.
Huws is clearly top drawer. Good passing range and intelligent on the ball. He twisted his defender this way and that to provide the cross for Langers' header. Of course though he got wacked by an Exeter dullard but that's what you expect to happen in League 2 to players that can actually play.
http://forum.soccermanager.com/showthread.php?t=51081&page=3
Pretty encouraging stuff for the young Welshman. How do Birmingham fans rate him? A fair indicator of how he's performed so far would be that he's just been named Birmingham's player of the month (not bad for a young lad in the Championship), winning 74% of the vote (link), and obviously as mentioned his performances have led to his first international appearance, after featuring for all levels of the Welsh Youth setup.
He'd also (before departing on loan for the Blues) been given the captaincy of the Manchester City U21 side, and he's clearly a player they hold in high regard. Huws has said that moving on from the Swans was the right thing to do for his career, and that of late Patrick Vieira has told him to model his game on that of Sergio Busquets - you don't get asked to do that if your mentor is unsure of your ability.
“I enjoyed my time there but it was the right move for my career to go”
http://www.tribalfootball.com/articles/emyr-huws-has-no-regrets-leaving-swansea-man-city-4010681#.UxgyjT-zETk
“Patrick has been great with me. He’s been a mentor and has improved my game a lot. He wants me to play like Busquets and he thinks I can do that. I went to the Man City-Barcelona game and his awareness on the pitch was class. He’s probably the best defensive midfielder in the world.
"Yaya is one of the best players in the world, he’s a good guy and tries to help me out with advice [too]. He gives me tips in training if you ask. It can be intimidating sometimes but you just have to get on with it. I’m used to it now."
http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/emyr-huws-patrick-vieira-wants-6775624
It seems this is a lad with a big future ahead of him, which can only be good news as far as Welsh football is concerned. If only we could produce a centre-forward to go with all the classy midfielders! For Swansea City and their fans though, it will always be a case of "the one that got away".