Nathan Wood continued his impressive maiden campaign for Swansea City in their 1-0 win over Huddersfield Town on Saturday.
Wood has reportedly attracted the interest of Premier League giants Tottenham and Arsenal following an outstanding breakthrough season in senior football after joining the Swans from Middlesbrough in the summer of 2022.
Prior to the move to SA1, 20-year-old Wood had limited experience at first-team level, making just two appearances for Boro last term, both coming in cup competitions, while a loan move to Hibernian proved unsuccessful with the defender playing just once for the Easter Road outfit.
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However, Wood has made 39 appearances in all competitions since joining Swansea and has grown in stature with each appearance. He was recently called into the England Under-21s squad, playing 90 minutes in a 2-1 defeat by Croatia. The defender was one of only two players in the squad not attached to a Premier League club, the other being Angel Gomes who plays for Lille in Ligue 1 - highlighting just how well he’s done this season.
Just this week, Fabrizio Romano reported that Wood was attracting the interest of Tottenham and Arsenal and it’s clear to see why given his recent form.
The centre-back, who was once ranked in the British top 10 in his age group for high jump, has all the attributes of a modern-day centre-half and he’s played a big part in Swansea’s recent resurgence. Speaking just two weeks ago, head coach Russell Martin said: “I look at him and he is 6ft 3in, he is built like a heavyweight boxer and he can run very fast.
“He displays unbelievable courage and technique on the ball… and just the amount of growth he has had this season - I do fear that (he could leave this summer).
“I know he is doing incredible stuff for us and if he continues doing that until the end of the season, I am sure there will be a lot of admirers.”
Wood was at his best against the Terriers on Saturday, making several of his trademark surging runs into the opposition half, winning a free-kick in a dangerous area at one point.
He had a pass accuracy of 90.4 per cent, made five clearances and won four aerial duels. He is an all-rounder, someone who does the defensive basics well while also being a ball-playing centre-half who can take the ball out of defence and progress up the pitch.
Wood signed a two-year deal with the Swans last summer but has probably featured a lot more than he would have anticipated, given his lack of Championship experience.
Martin, perhaps pre-empting the interest from the north London big hitters, added: “When we have really talented and promising young players, when they play really well you have to reward them, otherwise you run the risk of losing them sooner than you should.
“You run the risk of not getting as much money as you should for them if they end up getting sold. Once things become clearer in the next few weeks, Woody is someone we need to have a look at, for sure.
“Woody has everything, and you can see that in the way he's grown. I absolutely love the boy as a player and as a person. He's amazing.”
Whether Wood is capable of making the step up to Premier League level at this moment in time is another question, but he has shown for Swansea this season that he’s a class act and is another example of Swansea scouting an unheralded youngster before nurturing them into something special.
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