Swansea City may be haunted by 2017 transfer call v Blackburn Rovers: View | OneFootball

Swansea City will face Ryan Hedges on Saturday, a player they sold without him ever playing a first-team game

Some Swansea City supporters may be unaware that when they travel to Ewood Park on Saturday, they're likely to face a former Swan in Blackburn's starting XI.

Ryan Hedges has become a reliable performer at Championship level for Blackburn Rovers in recent seasons, playing 87 games in all competitions for the side from Lancashire since completing a move from Aberdeen in January 2022.

However, some of the Jack Army may be unaware that Hedges spent four years in SA1 as a youngster, enjoying a number of loan spells away from the club where he tasted professional football for the first time, but he never quite made the grade at Swansea, leaving the club without making a senior appearance in January 2017.

The three-cap Wales international was a regular feature in Swansea's U21 side during his four-year stay in south Wales, playing with a number of players who have gone on to achieve big things both at Swansea and elsewhere, and Hedges will be looking to make the Swans regret their 2017 transfer call when they face each other on Saturday.

Blackburn Rovers' Ryan Hedges will be looking to haunt Swansea City

Hedges had been playing senior football with North Wales side Flint Town United as a teenager when Swansea signed him in 2013, and he quickly worked his way up through the academy, becoming a regular in Cameron Toshack's U21 side.

The winger was loaned out three times during his time at Swansea, playing EFL football for Leyton Orient, Yeovil Town and Stevenage, showing that he was one of those players that was too good to be playing U21's football, but not quite good enough to be playing first-team football.

Hedges was perhaps unlucky that he was at Swansea during their days as a Premier League side, which obviously made it a lot harder to break into the first-team, and had they been in the Championship he may well have had opportunities to become a senior player at the club.

He departed Swansea on a permanent basis in January 2017, joining Championship side Barnsley, a move which some Swansea supporters would have given little notice to as he'd never played a senior game for the club.

However, after leaving Barnsley for Aberdeen and earning a move back to the Championship with Blackburn, Hedges is set to face his former club on Saturday, and while it may have been over seven years since he left, he'll feel he has a point to prove.

He'll feel that Swansea never gave him a chance at first-team level, and he'll be looking to haunt his former side by getting on the scoresheet or registering an assist.

Swansea have had a number of quality players come through their academy in recent years, and Hedges is sometimes the forgotten man as he never played a first-team game. He'll be looking to show Swans supporters exactly what he's all about on Saturday, and make the club regret never giving him a chance at the highest level.

In the last couple of years, Swansea City have really reaped the rewards of their strong academy set-up, with the foundations they put in place during their years in the Premier League paying dividends.

Swansea's Landore academy training ground is probably better than most EFL clubs' first-team training facilities, and while some of the club's spending on players in the top-flight was reckless, the decision to invest some of their Premier League money into the academy and training facilities was a smart move.

When Wales played Montenegro on Monday night, 7 of the 16 Welsh players that took to the field had come through Swansea's academy, and Josh Sheehan, who came through the academy and left after making just one senior appearance, was the Man of the Match.

The likes of Dan James, Joe Rodon and Connor Roberts are players who immediately standout as success stories from the academy, but if you scratch beneath the surface you've got the likes of Hedges and Sheehan who have gone onto enjoy successful EFL careers despite not making it at Swansea.