21 Under 21: Nathan Wood (Swansea)
Episode #9 | George Elek and Ali Maxwell list the most outstanding young players in the EFL.
21 Under 21 will be released every weekday at noon in June, with paid subscribers unlocking early access to all video content.
“For him, Swansea has been a great move” — Ali Maxwell
Nathan Wood
Swansea City – Championship, 2023/24
Born: 31 May 2002
Position: Centre-back
League appearances: 26
League starts: 24
🔀 This might be the correct moment for a transfer…
Luke Williams knows Swansea may have to plan for life without Nathan Wood. The centre-back has just a year left on his contract, that extension having been triggered in May, and not only has he shown promise, but he is further along the development pathway than many counterparts in his age group.
Wood, still 21 when the season ended, is one of very few defenders aged 21 or under who played 2,000+ minutes of the 2023/24 Championship campaign – despite the Swansea man missing three months when he required surgery for an ankle injury. It didn’t slow him down… but not much does, when you’ve run 100m in 13 seconds before.
While calling Wood “an unreal player” and adding, “we love him to pieces”, Williams also described a transfer as “plausible” and that, “this might be the correct moment because it makes sense all round”. Not quite a come-and-get-him plea, but hardly a hands-off warning, either. Watch this space.
📈 At a glance
Pizza charts informed by match data. Each chart rates a chosen player from 0-99 across different metrics (e.g. Dribbles) according to their “percentile rank”. A 75 score shows a player outperforming 75% of other players in the dataset. Each dataset is position-specific. Negative metrics are reversed. [Credit: Riley Roberts.]