Swansea's new young signings - who are they?

With young talent heading to SA1 in search of a more cultured footballing education, what do we know about our new youth players?

As mentioned in the last blog post, the Swans yesterday confirmed the acquisition of Kristian Scott, a USA Youth International, from Stoke. Scott is the latest in a line of youngsters to view Swansea as the ideal place to further their footballing education, so I thought I'd try and piece together some info on our new signings, and combine it with what I found out about Zabret & Gogic when they signed on.

Gregor Zabret   Age: 17   Position: Goalkeeper 

Zabret is a young Slovenian signed from NK Domzale, who finished third in the Slovenian League last season. He played 11 times last season (and three the season prior to that), keeping three clean sheets and attracted interest from several parties.

He apparently knocked back offers from West Brom and Sporting Lisbon to join the Swans after completing a trial period at the club in January. He's already playing for the Swans' development side and hopefully he'll go on to big things.

He's certainly got a physical presence at 6'2", but I can't say I've seen him play yet, and the proof is in the pudding, so to speak. From the match report of the development game against Millwall it doesn't sound like there was much he could do about either of the goals, so it must have been a fairly encouraging start to his Swans career.

Kenji Gorre   Age: 18   Position: Winger/Forward

Gorre joined up with the Swans in March after previously being on the books at Manchester United. He's the son of Dean Gorre, who some fans may remember playing for Ajax, Feyenoord and Huddersfield. Yes, you read that right. 

A tricky forward, he shot to fame at United after scoring this goal against the Wolves youth team. Apologies for the ghetto nature of the video. 

He went on tour with the squad to Holland (as did Zabret and, I think Alex Gogic) and even managed to get himself on the scoresheet when the Swans beat Excelsior 5-1, and his involvement would indicate to me that the powers that be at the club hold him in high regard.

Alex Gogic   Age: 19   Position: Midfielder

From what I can garner online, I think Gogic is a wide midfielder who operates in one of the positions either side of the striker in our formation. Signed from Olympiakos on what I think we can assume to be essentially a free transfer, he's a Cyprus U21 international and is another already in the fold of the development squad. There's not much info about the lad online so we'll have to wait and see. Hopefully I'll be able to get down to see the development team in action soon. 

Kristian Scott   Age: 18   Position: Central Midfield

USA international Scott signed this week from Stoke City after previously being on the books at Bristol City - where his dad Kevin (an ex-Newcastle defender) was an academy scout. When his dad moved east so did Kris and he's continued his development by moving to South Wales. 

A talented individual, he's been selected for the United States U15 and U18 squad, and was recently called up to the Ireland U19 squad on account of qualifying through his grandmother. He couldn't feature due to injury, and when I briefly spoke to him on Twitter he said he's as yet undecided as to whether he'd play international football for Ireland, the US or England (his father is English, his mother American). 

Hopefully now that he's swapped long ball for tika-taka he can kick on and become an important member of the squad.

Jernade Meade   Age: 20   Position: Left Back

Meade signed from Arsenal earlier in the summer and is arguably the coup of the lot. After he signed, I did a bit of digging online and found quite a few Arsenal fans disgruntled at letting him go, as they viewed him as a very exciting prospect. He made his debut for the Gunners in their mental 7-5 win over Reading in the League Cup and impressed sufficiently to be handed his full debut as Arsenal took on Olympiakos away in the Champions League. We've got a player in the development side who's already played in the Champions League. Mental.

An attacking left-back who can also operate on the wing, he seemed set to break into the first-team when injury curtailed his progress, and he'll now be hoping that he can stay injury-free and get his career back on track in SA1. It seems strange he wasn't offered a new deal at Arsenal given his (granted, limited) first team involvement, but hopefully the Gunners' loss is our gain. 

One thing to note is that at 5'3" he's nicked Leon's crown of "most diminutive player"...

Best of the rest

It would be rude not to mention a few other names now that I've mentioned the new guys. Scott Tancock (captain of the reserves) and Daniel Alfei both look tidy centre-backs, while Rory Donnelly got his full debut away at Petrolul the other night. Somewhat of a baptism of fire, but he's definitely shown enough to give us hope for the future.

Other names that are held in high regards behind the scenes in SA1 are those of James Loveridge, Henry Jones and Kyle Copp. Jones is a central midfielder (read an excellent article on him here) and has shown a great range of passing so far, while Copp is a forward who has long been touted as a serious prospect. Loveridge has been impressing of late and got the MOTM award in the FAW Youth Cup Final against West End after bagging himself a hat-trick. Check out the highlights here to see a couple of the guys in action:

With the training facilities looking very, very good indeed and a burgeoning youth system, hopefully we can start to produce more and more home-grown players, as well as bringing in other young players who look like they'll fit the way we do things around here. Another success story like Ben Davies' would go down very well indeed.

Swans agree pre-contract with Canas (rumoured), Taylor inching closer to return & Williams on Norwich result

Good afternoon all. This was supposed to be a nice early Monday morning post to give you all something to read, but, well, I've got a week off work and I've been enjoying doing a whole load of nothing, so you'll have to forgive a touch of tardiness. Bit of a slow news day (in terms of official announcements), so first up is... 

Swansea City agree pre-contract with Jose Canas

As yet, there has been no official word from the club regarding Jose Canas, however the Mirror last night broke the story that Jose has agreed a pre-contract with the Swans, rejecting offers from WBA and others that were rumoured to be worth twice what the Swans had offered. I did some digging and put together an in-depth profile of Canas earlier this year (blog available here), and if this news is true then it'll bring a massive smile to my face; and not just because the Premier League needs more players with good hair. 

Canas battling with Cesc Fabregas.

Canas looks like he possesses all the attributes required to be a very good player for Swansea City, but with a couple of months left on his contract it's unlikely we'll know anything more regarding his signature until Betis know where they're likely to be finishing in the league. They're currently chasing European football, so they won't want the disruption which could be caused by the announcement of one of their leading lights leaving; indeed given Betis' position in La Liga it's even possible that if he does sign for the Swans, it's possible he could play his former employers in the Europa League next season! 

Stranger things have happened, but all in all if these rumours are true it's excellent news for the Swans. One signing down, and no doubt more to come...

Neil Taylor set to feature for U21 side away at Brentford

Following appearances for the Swans' development side away at Bristol City and home to Colchester United, Neil Taylor could possibly play his first full ninety minutes today since breaking and dislocating his ankle at the beginning of the season. His comeback has surprised everyone, given the severity of the injury, and it's testament to both the player and the staff around him that he's managed to get himself back in contention in record time. 

Taylor in action for Swansea

The game is being held at Brentford's "Jersey Training Ground" (exotic...) and even with free admission it's likely there won't be many people in attendance, which will probably suit Neil as he looks to keep his head down and continue to work hard in pursuit of a first-team return. It's more than possible he'll be fit and available before the end of the season now, so a good showing here could see him come into the reckoning for the Southampton game on the 20th. Whether Laudrup thinks he's ready remains to be seen, but no doubt Neil will be chomping at the bit to make a competitive appearance before the season is over.

Good luck to the Swans U21 side, too. They've won the last two games on the bounce, so hopefully O'Leary's boys can keep up the good form as they look to finish the season on a high. I can't find any news on Kenji Gorre, and he's not included in the squad for today, so it's possible his trial period has finished; as soon as I find news on that you'll all be the first to know. [As it turned out, the game had finished by the time I'd finished typing this blog. The Swans went down 2-1 to Brentford, with the Swansea goal coming from Rory Donnelly. No info available on how long Taylor managed].

Ash refutes suggestions of Swansea "taking it easy" in wake of cup win

In the wake of the Norwich game, Ashley Williams was pressed by journos as to whether he felt his side are struggling to maintain their level of performance, now that they've already secured European football for next summer. Ash was quick to shout this theory down, and realistically for good reason; robbed of a point at WBA by a ridiculous decision, the Swans then lost to Arsenal and Spurs. Oh no! Losing to two Champions League chasing clubs can hardly be considered to be "taking your foot off the gas", but that is exactly what the Swans had been accused of in some quarters of late and Williams will have been glad the Swans secured a result, if only to stop the theory growing any further.

"I'm not too fussed what people say. When you win a cup, that's the obvious thing that people look at, but we don't feel like that. We're just working hard, we're having a bit of a wobble with the three losses and we've stopped that today but it's nothing to do with feeling like the season's over. I don't think so anyway - I don't get that impression or feel like that. 

"When you have three losses, you just need to get a point - or three - to stop it and on a different day we could have won the game today. Also, at 2-1 down, facing your fourth-straight loss, I think we showed great character and hopefully we can use this today and really kick on now towards a strong finish, which is what I think we deserve for the season we've had so far." 

Williams celebrates Luke Moore's equaliser at
Carrow Road. Check out the evils on the guy
in the baseball cap!

When asked about Michu's miss in the 90th minute;

"We're never going to complain about Michu, he's scored some important goals and a good goal again today. He's unlucky that he didn't put that one away. If he did we would have got the win and gone home happy, but as I said he scored one and we're happy with that. 

"He's got goals, that's what he's all about, and I think he's performing well. He looks good when he plays with Luke, I like the pair of them together. I'm sure he's got more goals in him." 

"He's done brilliantly every time he's played. He's been unlucky in my eyes not to play more games, I think there are games where he can feel aggrieved not to have started, but he's kept his head down and played good again today."          Ashley Williams 

Luke Moore is proving an unlikely talisman with three goals in four games, and surely that warrants an extended run in the team. His link and hold-up play have been excellent but it takes a while to get up to speed, and it'd be interesting to see how he did with some games under his belt and a higher level of player around him (given that the last time he had such a run in the team we'd just been promoted from League One). You can't argue with results. and the ex-WBA man is currently delivering, so deserves his place in the team.

One recurring issue though is the Swans defence of set pieces. Now that the Swans have stopped the rot it's easy to agree with Ash that there was no reason to panic, but three losses on the bounce (regardless of opposition) generally leave most football fans thinking illogical thoughts, and with some catastrophic defending again on display when Norwich put balls into the Swans' penalty area it's clear there's work to be done. Hopefully Laudrup can use the mini-break before the Southampton game on the 20th to address this...

He won't be the first to try.

Tiendalli relaxed over new contract, and Swansea take ex-Man Utd youngster Kenji Gorre on trial

Dwight adopts a typically Dutch (I know he was born in Surinam) attitude over whether he'll extend his stay in South Wales

Following yesterday's news that Laudrup wouldn't be drawn on talk of a new contract for Tiendalli, the player himself was asked if he'd like to extend his stay at the Liberty, and responded with the verbal equivalent of a "shrug of the shoulders". It seems he's more than willing to open talks over a new contract, but at the same time given his solid level of performance this season he knows he won't be short of an offer in the summer:

Tiendalli up against Suarez earlier in the season

Dwight Tiendalli: "I like it here and my family like it here. I like the boys - they joke a lot with me - and if the club want me to stay for a couple of years, then of course we have to discuss it, but I am not thinking about that now. I have played a couple of good games which I am happy about, but for me there is no rush. I am just focusing on the games and on training and we will see after that. 

"So far I have not heard anything from the club, but we will see what happens. I am not a player who says my agent has to talk to the club or anything like that. For me there's no rush - I just wait. If the club come, they come, if they don't come, they don't come. 

"It's not up to the player to go to the club, it's up to the club. The important thing for me is that I can look back at my games here and feel that I played well."

Tiendalli signed on a one year contract after Neil Taylor suffered an horrific ankle injury early in the season, so he can be forgiven if he hasn't completely committed to the idea of an extended stay; however if it were up to me I'd definitely be considering offering him a new deal. A bird in the hand is better than two in the bush and all that, and the Swans have shown time and time again that if you have a player who understands how the team work, and fits into the fabric of the squad well, then it is prudent to retain that player.

There's no guarantee that any signing we make will pay off, so when it does, it's important to tie those players down, and Tiendalli has let no-one down this year with a series of hardworking displays - impressive in his willingness to get forward as much as his defensive exploits. I'd have no objection to at least a one-year extension, and I think he's done enough to deserve that. As I mentioned yesterday, Jazz Richards has done well on loan at Crystal Palace (see a report on his loan here) so it's possible Laudrup wants to look at him on his return before making a decision, but with Palace's involvement in the play-offs a distinct possibility it may be that it'll be a while yet before he returns to South Wales.

Swans take ex-Man Utd youth player Kenji Gorre on trial

Kenji Gorre - A name one Man Utd fan thought
sounded like "A Japanese slasher movie"

This is the news that 18 year old winger Kenji Gorre - son of ex-Huddersfield & Barnsley winger Dean Gorre - has been released by Manchester United and is currently on trial with Swansea City, after a spell with Celtic earlier this month. 

Gorre started his footballing career with a brief spell for Manchester City, but he switched the blue of City for the red of United before he even got to comprehensive-school age. Gorre has been held in high regard throughout his career; given an Adidas sponsorship at 14, he was then the subject of interest from Frank Arnesen and Chelsea but ultimately he remained at Old Trafford - with his form for the youth team leading to a callup from the England u-15 squad. I can't find any info, but he's since played for the Dutch u-16 side, so I'm guessing he didn't actually feature for the England side...

Regarded as a tricky winger, his role the past two seasons has mainly been that of a super-sub, and Man Utd fans online have said that they feel his all-around game isn't up to the standard of other youth players in the squad - which is possibly harsh given his goal return which has remained high for both the u-16 and u-18 sides, despite a lack of starts. He has now, however, been told he can seek fresh pastures and it seems he's been training with the Swans for a couple of days at least, given his involvement in Monday night's u-21 win over Bristol City - where the Swans development side came from two goals down to win 3-2. The Swans went in at half time level thanks to goals from Kurtis March & Rory Donnelly, before the apparently in-form Josh Sheehan grabbed the only goal of the second half to secure the win.

It remains to be seen how Gorre fits into the squad, or if he makes the grade, but the news that the Swans are looking to add youth to the squad is always a good thing, especially if it's not going to cost them any money. I may get a chance to pop over to the Landore training base to have a look, and if I don't we'll have to rely on any tidbits fed to us by the club, but it'll be interesting to see whether young Kenji does enough to secure himself a contract for next season.