Richards Aiming For More Starts In Midfield

Jazz Richards says he's aiming to play more games in midfield for the Swans next season.

Along with Joe Allen, the 19 year-old is one of the most promising youngsters at the club, and last year he made 15 appearances in a Swansea City.

All but one of them though was in defence, and next season he's looking to play more games in his preferred midfield position.

He told the Evening Post:

'I don't know if the manager sees me as a midfielder or more as a full-back,'

'But midfield is where I want to play, and, if I get the chance next season, I will do my best to take it.

'I played a lot of games last season and I was really happy with that, but only one of them was in midfield, at Doncaster, and I got man of the match that day.

'I can't play there as much as I would like because of the midfielders we have got, but I hope over the next year or two to get a few more chances.'

The Swansea-born youngster recently signed a new contract as his current deal was set to expire this month. There was speculation that other Championships were showing an interest, including Sheffield United, but Jazz says he was happy to sign a new deal with the Swans.

'There are a lot of stories, and some of them weren't true, but I think my agent heard some things from those clubs.

'There was interest, but there was never a contract offer or anything like that and I was always planning on signing a new deal at Swansea anyway.

'It wasn't a difficult decision for me. A lot of players' contracts have taken a lot of time to sort out this season and I was just like everybody else.

'We were just waiting for the right deal and I'm glad it's all sorted out.'

'It's means a lot to have big teams interested in me,'

'At my age not many players have even played in the Championship, so I've been lucky.

'I didn't expect to play as much as I did last season but, now I have got those games under my belt, I want to go on and play a lot more next season.

'There were a lot of games last season where I felt I could have done a lot better, and I hope I can prove myself next year.'

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