Jerry Yates: New striker aims to repay Swansea City's faith

Jerry Yates scored 46 goals in three seasons at Blackpool

Jerry Yates is Swansea City's most expensive new recruit since Bersant Celina arrived in 2018, in the immediate aftermath of relegation from the Premier League.

But you would not know it.

Yates, 26, is getting used to new surroundings after Swansea paid Blackpool an undisclosed fee - understood to be about £2.5m - for their player of the year.

Fellow forward Kyle Joseph - thought to have been valued at about £500,000 - moved in the opposite direction as part of the deal, making it the biggest incoming transfer Swansea have been involved in since Celina arrived from Manchester City for an initial £3m five years ago.

For Yates, who did his time in the lower divisions before establishing himself in the Championship, it is a significant price tag.

But it is not one, it appears, which will be a weight around his neck.

"Nothing like that comes into my head," Yates told BBC Sport Wales.

"It's a proud moment for me and my family that Swansea have put this much faith in me. I have got to go out there and repay them now.

"But I will just go out and do what I do - run about, put tackles in, score some goals and hopefully that's enough."

Maybe it is a consequence of a spell cutting his teeth in the Evo-Stik Northern Premier League First Division North with Harrogate Railway, or perhaps it just the way he is built.

Whatever the reason, it is apparent that Yates is the kind of striker who can be relied upon to put in a shift.

When he was unveiled as Swansea's head coach earlier this month, Michael Duff stressed that, in his eyes, endeavour is key.

So it should not be a surprise that he has made Yates, a player who has made his name through hard work, one of his first signings.

"You don't want to let your team-mates down," Yates said.

"My aim is to score goals, that's my job. But the least you can do on the pitch is run your socks off.

"If you see someone grafting and putting in the work, it makes you want to go and do it. That's something I will do at the very least every Saturday."

Jerry Yates is set to make his first appearance as a home player at the Swansea.com Stadium when the Swans host Bristol Rovers on Tuesday, 25 July

Yates' attitude helps explain - in part - why he was named players' player of the year at Blackpool last season.

He has quality too, of course, with 15 goals in 43 appearances despite being part of a Blackpool side relegated from the Championship in 2022-23, which convinced Swansea to meet the asking price.

A host of second-tier clubs - as well as Rangers - were also linked with the Seasiders' striker.

He admitted it was "very frustrating" when facing Swansea's possession game as an opponent, but that made them attractive from the outset.

"Playing against them in the last two seasons caused me nightmares," Yates said. "So if you can't beat them, join them."

Yates was further encouraged to join Swansea by a chat with the club's former captain, Ashley Williams, with whom he shares an agent.

"Ash has seen me play, he knows what I am like as a character and he thinks this is place for me to go and enhance my career," he added.

Born in Doncaster, Yates began with his hometown club but was released at 14. He joined Rotherham United a year later and made his Championship debut aged just 18 for the Millers in 2015 - although not before that formative stint on loan at Harrogate Railway.

Jerry Yates celebrates after Blackpool's success in the 2020-21 League One play-off final

"That was a learning experience to be fair," he said.

Yates' next stop was Harrogate Town in the Conference South before he began to get regular time at Rotherham in 2016-17.

He helped the South Yorkshire club secure promotion from League One in 2018, before successful loan spells in League Two at Carlisle United and Swindon Town, where he again won promotion in 2020.

Yates' contribution at Swindon prompted Blackpool to pay a reported £200,000 for his services and it proved money well spent.

He scored 23 goals in his debut season as Neil Critchley's team were promoted to the second tier in 2020-21, and kicked on at the higher level last term having scored eight times in his first Championship campaign.

Swansea's hope is that Yates will progress again in a side who finished 10th last season and whose long-term target is to return to the top flight.

With continuing uncertainty over the future of Joel Piroe, the Welsh club's leading scorer in the last two years, the onus could well be on Yates to spearhead any push for the top six.

Yet the new man is unfazed.

"I am one of those [players] - I let the [other] players play, I will just run my socks off and hopefully tap one in or something like that," Yates said.