Swansea's pride over Wales contingent - and hope for more

2026 World Cup qualifying: Wales v Kazakhstan

Venue: Cardiff City Stadium Date: Saturday, 22 March Kick-off: 19:45 GMT

Coverage: Watch on BBC One Wales, iPlayer, BBC Sport website and app, plus S4C via iPlayer. Text commentary and highlights on BBC Sport website and app. Listen live on BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru, BBC Radio 5 Sport Extra.

The likes of Ben Davies and Joe Rodon have long since departed, but their pictures continue to adorn the walls at Swansea City's academy.

The same is true of Connor Roberts, Daniel James and Josh Sheehan, the three other Swansea old boys in the Wales squad for World Cup qualifiers against Kazakhstan on Saturday and North Macedonia next week.

There are photographs too of the four other ex-academy players – Joe Allen, Ollie Cooper, Liam Cullen and Ben Cabango – who are away with Wales but remain part of Swansea's senior side.

The nine Swansea products made up exactly a third of the Wales party named by Craig Bellamy earlier this month, which is some achievement for the club's youth set-up.

"It's exceptional, it really is, and credit goes to everybody involved in the processes along the way," says Alan Sheehan, Swansea's caretaker boss.

Every graduate who makes it to senior international level becomes a poster boy at Swansea's academy, which is a few hundred yards from the club's stadium in Landore.

The hope is that those following in their footsteps in youth football will be inspired to emulate their achievements on the senior stage.

"I think it's very important to have the players coming through and more importantly for the players to feel that if they hit the level, the door is open for them," Sheehan adds.

The belief at Swansea is that there are more players ready to push through, initially into their first team then, a little further down the line, the national side.

Questions asked - but mood is 'upbeat'

Joe Allen (left) is the senior figure among Swansea's Wales contingent, having come out of international retirement to play for Craig Bellamy (right)

For all the recent successes – and there have been others, such as Oli McBurnie and Ali Al-Hamadi – questions have been asked about prospects for the future at Swansea.

The club downgraded the status of the academy from category one – the top level – to category two in 2020, in order to save money following relegation from the Premier League two years earlier.

Some coaches have departed, and there have been stories doing the rounds about talented youngsters opting to go elsewhere.

Yet Swansea Under-21 boss Anthony Wright, who joined the staff 12 years ago, knows more than most about what it takes to produce players good enough to make the grade.

And while he acknowledges there have been difficult times as a result of reductions in funding, Wright believes Swansea are back on the right track.

"I have seen the best and I have seen what it's like when it's been stripped back as well," he says.

"There's been tough times - there are tough moments. But over the last 12 months... I am really upbeat about the way we are going as an academy again.

"I think we are on the right track to really go and produce another batch of players in the next couple of seasons."

From Gerrard and Owen to academy coach

Anthony Wright has been working with Swansea's first team as well as the under-21s since the departure of Luke Williams last month

Alongside fellow coach Jon Grey – who left Swansea to become part of the Wales women's team's coaching staff two years ago – Wright has worked with many of the players aiming to make a positive start to World Cup qualifying in the next few days.

Wright, 45, grew up not far from the Swansea.com Stadium in Townhill, but spent his formative years in Liverpool's youth set-up, where he was in the same year as Steven Gerrard and Michael Owen.

"That was a good grounding in terms of what elite academy football looks like," Wright says.

A midfielder, he joined Oxford United after leaving Anfield at 16 and made a handful of senior appearances in what is now the Championship before spending most of his playing career in the Welsh top flight.

Wright's first job at Swansea was coaching the under-12s on a part-time basis, but he has since climbed the ranks to reach the top level of academy football.

He says the emergence in recent years of such a stellar crop of youngsters at Swansea is partly down to the individual qualities of Rodon, Cabango and the rest, and partly the result of an academy "doing something quite special".

Connor Roberts (left) and Ben Cabango were among six Swansea academy products at the 2022 World Cup

"The level of coaches we had was excellent right through the ages and what we do here is unique," Wright adds.

"We had a philosophy, we still do to this day, and we have clear values within players that are very important for us.

"I think what we do on the ground certainly has an input - the environment where you have to be humble, hard-working and driven to be the best you can. That all combines really well for these players to succeed, but it's also about the players as well."

Wright credits Gavin Levey, who left Aberdeen to become Swansea's academy director in October 2023, for "steadying the ship" since his arrival in Wales after what he describes as "quite a tough time" around 18 months ago.

And he argues Swansea's continued willingness to be patient with emerging players "if they are not ready at 19" has reaped rewards.

"Joe [Rodon], Ben, Ollie Cooper, Cullen - we have waited," he says.

"It gives those players a chance to mature and to establish themselves."

It would be no shock should Sam Parker be the next Swansea product to make his way into the Wales squad.

Cardiff-born Parker made the first-team breakthrough at 17 in December 2023.

Parker's progress has been hampered by injury since, but Wright expects him to flourish in the first team alongside centre-back Filip Lissah - an Englishman who joined Swansea at 16 after leaving Chelsea - who has also had fitness troubles this season.

Then there are the likes of Joel Cotterill and Cameron Congreve, who will be given their chance in pre-season having impressed during loan spells in League Two in this campaign, and Ben Lloyd, who made his senior Swansea debut in December.

"We have certainly got players who are going to be knocking on the door in the next 18 months," says Wright.

"First and foremost, it's about those players getting into our system and establishing themselves. Then I am sure they will go on and we'll have another cohort of Swansea players within the Welsh set-up.

"And I can speak for everyone at the club when I say seeing our players in the Wales squad makes us extremely proud."