U21 Spotlight: Neil Taylor

In the first of many, we're setting the spotlight on an up and coming prospect outside of the Premier League.  This week all eyes will be on new Swansea City signing; Neil Taylor.

Taylor was signed from Wrexham in this years Summer transfer window for a fee, only recently settled, of £150,000.  The Swans were in dire need of a left-back after losing previous full-back Federico Bessone from a free transfer to Leeds United and mainly relying on the, near enough, Libero Alan Tate to play in the position last season.

The signing of Taylor was met with mixed feelings by the Swansea fans.  Whether he would make the step up comfortably from Blue Square Premier level to promotion-chasing Championship level was to be seen but he was seen as a good prospect to the future and added another Welsh player into the ranks of the South Wales side.

Taylor started his footballing career at a young age, joining the academy at Manchester City at the age of 9 where he spent six years with the Manchester club.  However, his City career was brought to a halt after suffering an injury which prompted him to move on, where he opted to move closer to home with Wrexham.

[caption id="attachment_150" align="aligncenter" width="460" caption="Dragon: Taylor returned to his home country to showcase his bright future."][/caption]

He joined the Wrexham academy at age 16 in 2007 and did not take long to sign a professional contract.  Taylor made his debut for the Dragons in a Round 2 League Cup match against Villa, coming on as a substitute in the final 10 minutes.  Unfortunately for him, Villa were 5-0 up at the time.  He made his full debut for Wrexham a month later in a League Two match against Stockport.  From there he became a regular figure in the back 4 for the Wrexham which lead to Brian Flynn calling up Taylor to the Welsh U21 squad.

Following his success with Wrexham, earning 13 caps at U21 level, Swansea City were reported to be interested in the left-back.  The reported interest came at a high when the Welshman declined a new contract offer from the Dragons in April 2010.

[caption id="attachment_151" align="aligncenter" width="320" caption="White Is the New Red: Swansea confirmed the signing of Neil Taylor for their 2010/11 campaign."][/caption]

After 75 appearances and 3 goals for Wrexham, the eventual signing was confirmed at the end of June 2010,where the Swans swooped for Taylor with a to be confirmed compensation fee (agreed to be £150,000 plus 10% of any future profit earlier this month) due to the player being under-24 and out of contract with his club.

Neil secured his debut for Swansea coming on as a half-time substitute for Albert Serran.  Since then, Taylor has come in to solve the left-back problem for the South Wales club, making six appearences so far and even with the return to fitness of the regular back four of Tate, Monk, Williams and Rangel - Taylor seems bullish to keep his place in the starting eleven.

There has even been reported Premier League interest for the highly-rated Welshman already, but for the meantime, Taylor will be determined to help the Swans become the first Welsh Premier League team.  However, this reported interest can only be good for the player, and a good sign for the national team with a barrage of promising youth players coming through - most of whom have started their full international careers already.