Cotterill hails Swans as Premier League class

DAVID Cotterill insists he has moved to a club with Premier League potential after sealing his switch to Swansea City.

The Wales forward has signed a six-week loan deal with the Championship high-flyers before an expected £500,000 move to the Liberty Stadium when the transfer window re-opens in January.

And Cotterill is in no doubt he is joining a club on the up after watching Swansea beat Derby County on Friday night to climb to fourth in the table, their highest league placing in 26 years.

"The way Swansea are playing at the moment, anything could happen," he said.

"Swansea made Derby, who have some very good players, look like a poor team.

"They couldn't get the ball. Swansea passed it around and murdered them.

"No-one's really bossing this league at the moment.

"West Brom and Newcastle are up there, but Sheffield United played against Newcastle recently and they didn't stand out as being the frontrunners for me. Swansea play the best football by far.

"It's just a case of grinding out the results and if they can keep doing that, they can get promotion."

Cotterill heads back to Wales after a frustrating start to the season which seen him make just three starts in 14 appearances for Sheffield United.

He moved to Bramall Lane in the summer of 2008 from Wigan, who paid £2 million to secure his services from Bristol City.

"There were a few other clubs that would have taken me on loan, but the attractive football Swansea play was definitely an advantage," said Cotterill, who can operate as a central striker or out wide.

"Any footballer will tell you that if you're not playing games it's pretty frustrating, so hopefully I can get over that now.

"I went to Wigan for a while and it didn't go as planned, and obviously at Sheffield United this year hasn't worked out as I would have liked, so the best thing for me is to start playing football again.

"It was strange. Kevin Blackwell brought me in and he wanted me to do the business, but the style of football he played didn't really suit the way I played. But I'm not really concerned with Sheffield United now, I'm more concerned about what Swansea do."

Though new to Swansea, Cotterill will recognise plenty of faces having been involved in Wales squads with Ashley Williams and Joe Allen, and played with Craig Beattie and Nathan Dyer when the pair were on loan at the Blades.

"There's been interest from Swansea for a while, and with the ambitions they've got I want to be a part of that," added Cotterill.

"I spoke to Ashley quite a lot and also Nathan and Beatts as well. They've said it's a really good club to be around.

"I've come to a club that's growing. They've got great ambitions and I want to be a part of that, so I'm happy to be here."

stephen.ware@swwmedia.co.uk