Defender opens up on long Aston Villa transfer wait as he becomes instant hero
Sil Swinkels has made himself an instant hero at loan club Bristol Rovers, following his transfer from Aston Villa on January transfer window deadline day.
The 21-year-old Dutch defender scored a dramatic equaliser on his debut for Rovers on Tuesday night, coming off the subs’ bench at the Memorial Stadium in the closing stages and powering a close-range header into the net in added time to make it 1-1 against Stockport County.
Speaking after his heroics, the younger revealed he has been patiently waiting for an opportunity to go out on loan and gain valuable experience.
READ MORE: Former Aston Villa star Jack Grealish releases statement after Man City injury blow
READ MORE: Loic Bade reveals why he rejected Aston Villa transfer as he speaks out on situation
“I’ve been waiting quite a while, to be honest,” Swinkels confessed to Bristol Live. “I wanted to go in the summer but with the centre-back situation at Villa I wasn’t allowed.
“I wanted to go even the summer before but then I had an ACL injury so that kept me out for the best part of 13 months so obviously that delayed it a little bit. So for me it was just getting back from the injury, trying to get to my level again.
“The last six months I’ve experienced great things with the first team, being around their matchday squads and training with them.
“But now ever since the transfer window in the summer was over, I was just looking forward and thinking everyday, ‘if the opportunity comes, great, if not, I have to be at the best of my ability and be ready to go out on loan in January’ in whatever league it would have been and show my qualities there. So I’m very happy to finally be able to do that.”
“I think as a player it helps getting those experiences,” Swinkels added, on his squad involvements for Villa’s first team. “Knowing what it’s like to play in big stadiums, being around a Premier League side, a Champions League side at the moment. Seeing how they train on and off the pitch. What they do extra for their bodies, for everything around it.
“I think it’s great to experience but as a player you just want to compete, you want to play games, you want to be important for a team, you want to help the club. That for me was always something I wanted to go and do and to be able to do that now is just a great feeling.”
