Carter Heywood

Heywood was named Swansea's top academy player after a season spent playing up across both the under eighteens and under twenty ones. That is evidence he was outgrowing youth football before most of his peers. Wales have trusted him with the captaincy at youth level, including matches against senior footballing nations, and Swansea took him on their pre season trip to Austria, where he featured in matches against senior European opposition. That level of early exposure is rare for a defender still working his way through the academy ranks.

The gap between excelling against academy defences and holding your own against senior Championship strikers remains real. Plenty of promising young centre backs have needed real time to adjust to the power and pace of the level above. Watch how he copes the first time he starts a proper match, because pre season friendlies rarely replicate the real thing.