When Luke Cundle sat down with strategic player marketing manager Matt Jackson at Wolverhampton Wanderers he was presented with a big decision to make. He could have stayed at Wolves in amongst a plethora of first team irregulars or go out on loan. He chose the latter.

Jackson has some pedigree whilst spending seven years at Wigan Athletic in a player development role after he retired in 2008. Of course some will recall him having a successful career at Everton and Norwich City. In fact he registered over five hundred appearances as a professional footballer. After a spell in player development he joined Wolves in the newly formatted player strategic marketing manager role in 2021. When Cundle made his Swansea move Jackson said. "This is the first time Luke has been out of the Wolves environment. He’s had a lot of involvement with the senior squad here in the Premier League, albeit without a great amount of playing time, but the training he’s had with the manager and his staff have put him at a really good place in his career”

When a premier league player joins a championship club it comes with many caveats. You can read the in depth report below on Ethan Laird joining Swansea back in August 2021, it isn’t just a case of jumping in the car and driving to Swansea Frank Lampard style.

That’s here –> Ethan Laird explained

Those days are long gone, and well before my time, so why did Matt Jackson choose Swansea City ?

Matt explains. "When a player goes out on loan, it’s always about the development, and we’ve seen when our other players have gone out to the Championship previously that’s it such a tough league to prove yourself in, and what we want to achieve for Luke with this move is the all-round experience he will gain by going to Swansea” Russell Martin plays a unique style of football at Swansea, it’s a rare sight and has taken some time to develop. However, Luke Cundle has blossomed under the guidance of Martin and his coaching team.

Matt adds. “He needs to learn to play in tough atmospheres and high intensity games — which you certainly get in the Championship. But as a club, we also need to find out what exactly is his ceiling of performance, so he can come back and affect our first-team at some point in the future."

Of course Wolves have kept tabs on Luke’s performances. His diet, his patterns of training, his overall discipline and athletic improvement are key. However, it’s not only that, his education away from the football field is a key Russell Martin development tool. ‘Learning from experience’ is too easy a statement when your improvement is measured solely by the individual. Receiving feedback and not only from your on the field endeavours but from your peers is crucial. It’s then up to the player to take that on board and use their own skills base to improve. Of course there are many coaches at the Swans to assist and advise. But overall development is something a person does as an individual. They either take it on board, analyse how they can be better or strop off in to a sulk. I don’t need to mention the two players who have done that in recent times. And of course those protagonists affect other players in the squad, they are toxic and stop others learning. They are not team players and quickly find that out in a highly competitive well paid professional game.

In Luke’s case he has embraced the learning environment at Swansea. Speaking to one of the websites close supporters on Sunday we were told. “Luke is a dream for Russ to coach and develop, he absolutely loves him as a player and as a young man. He brings no agenda, just the desire to learn and be a part of the squad. He is a very talented player and even though he is diminutive in stature, as we have seen, he is a real aggressive and has been an important player this season. Wolves are absolutely delighted with his loan spell, it’s far above expectation” We did pitch the question on Luke’s future next term. “Obviously that is down to Wolves but there’s a genuine belief the team can have a decent tilt at promotion next season. If Luke is available and Wolves want it he will most certainly be a part of next season at Swansea “ That’s a real positive for not only the Swans but to Russell Martin and his ability to develop players who ‘want to learn’ People talk about evidence. Well, here it is.

It has to be said it’s as close as anyone can get as an endorsement of Luke Cundle’s time at Swansea City this season. At such a young age, and only twenty one tomorrow what better place for him to progress even further than at Swansea as the season starts in August ? Some have compared Luke to Leon Britton at the same age, there are similarities. He doesn’t allow his seemingly slight frame impinge on his natural ability. He can be a tough and uncompromising player adding a spark to the midfield. He has proven that on numerous occasions over his thirty Swansea appearances this season.

Maybe that’s what makes him a special player, he isn’t shying away from learning from others like numerous other loan players this and last season, he seems to embrace the challenge. If the Swans can secure his services next season he would be a very key player as the season progresses.

So why not ?

Photographs with permission Swansea City AFC

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