news-engine

“I’m going to tell you the truth. He told me he’s watching Kit." Mark Allen's on-air remarks during S4C's coverage of Connah's Quay's defeat to Welsh champions The New Saints back in March was the first time it was publicly mentioned. Manchester United scout Tony Coton, an old friend of Allen's from their days playing at Manchester City together, was allegedly in the crowd to watch a largely unknown Swansea City loanee. “He’s competent in what he’s doing. He’s growing up, and every time I see him play, he’s growing up in front of me," Allen added. In all honesty, it was a claim that wasn't necessarily taken very seriously by many, including by some insiders at Swansea. Just a couple of months on, however, young Kit Margetson is preparing to embark on a new chapter at Old Trafford, one he hopes will lead to the very top for club and country. Training in the back garden Margetson, who leaves the Swans without making a single senior appearance for the club, shares what for many in Wales is an instantly recognisable surname. His father Martyn was, for much of his son's time in SA1, serving as a goalkeeper coach with Swansea's senior side, having held similar roles with both Wales and England. Martyn is now back with the Wales set-up under Craig Bellamy, and has predictably had a big hand in his son's early development, particularly during the Covid lockdown, which in another life might have put the then 13-year-old's progress on ice. "Me and Kit have had some major run-ins," Martyn laughs. JOIN US ON FACEBOOK! Follow Wales Online’s Swansea City FB page for more news and analysis "But I knew goalkeeping was going to come full circle. I knew it in lockdown. "Goalkeepers were going to be needed to be able to play the ball third line, not just, you know, tippy-tappy stuff playing out from your six-yard box. "During lockdown was when Kit started to evolve as a goalkeeper because obviously we couldn't go into training. "I couldn't go into training with Swansea, so me and Kit, we just trained together every day. "In that time then I said to him, 'the game's going to come full circle again, and you're going to be able to need to be able to kick the ball in behind the back four'. "So we spent a lot of time in lockdown practising his longer-range kicking. "Lo and behold, it is evolving full circle, and last year I think he had five assists for Connah's Quay. "He's now capable of seeing a situation he likes, and he hits the ball in behind. He's able to do that as well as play the shorter game. "When that starts happening and metrics are being hit by a young goalkeeper out on loan playing men's football, then, you know, the big boys then, they get alerted to it. "That's basically what happened with Kit." Lockdown also coincided with a massive growth spurt for the teenager, who would later go on to enjoy guidance from some of the club's more established shot-stoppers. "He came down one day in lockdown and I looked at him and I thought, 'Bloody hell'. "I watched him walk through the door and I said, 'Do me a favour, Kit'. I said, 'Just go upstairs and put your school trousers on'. "Honestly, he came down and his school trousers were above his ankles. "There's a bit of science behind it because a lot of kids in that lockdown period, because they were sleeping for so long - you didn't have to wake them up to go to school, for example. "A lot of them shot up in lockdown, and Kit was one of them. "He was growing and growing and has obviously got up to 6ft 4 now. "So he had the physical attributes, we just had to work on the tactical side of things. "I'm really passionate about that, and I concentrated on that with him throughout the whole of lockdown. "I have to say last season, Lawrence Vigouroux, Andy Fisher and Paul Farman (Swansea's goalkeepers) were a huge part of Kit's development as well because he trained with us every day. "That for him was massive because then he was going to Connah's Quay and playing." The spell that changed everything Margetson's move to Old Trafford comes despite him not playing a single minute of senior football at the Swans, with his only real taste of first-team football coming in the form of a season-long loan spell at Cymru Premier side Connah's Quay, where he spent the final year of his Swans contract. As head coach John Disney explains, it proved a pivotal step in his career. Disney is, as it happens, friends with Kit's older brother Ben, whom he heard raving about the young goalkeeper's progress in the Swans academy set-up. "Quite a lot of clubs were interested in him at the time," Disney remembers. "I think there were a couple of bids turned down from Brighton and other clubs at the time. "We needed a goalkeeper on loan. My remit was to try and get a young goalkeeper, so I went to watch him live. "The first thing that impressed me massively was his distribution with his feet. "He was unbelievable. He can play short, he can play long, which is a dying art, I think, in goalkeepers now, especially the younger ones. "A lot of them are told to play out. But away from the coaching element, he just had a really good presence about him. "He's obviously a tall lad and he holds his box really well. "But he was playing in youth football at the time, and I was just excited to see what that would look like from the men's game. "When he first came into the building, obviously he was coming from a Championship club into a part-time Welsh club, but his respect for everyone around the place was impeccable, and that's probably credit to him and his family. "I always trusted Kit and always knew that we could get something out of him. I never thought it would ever end up in a move to Manchester United, I'll be honest with you!" The Wales call-up As well as scouts from Man United, Wales are clearly keeping a keen eye on the youngster's progress. Having previously come through the age grades, Kit received his first call-up to the under-21s back in September, and won his first cap under Matty Jones in the 2-0 win over Belarus back in March. Goalkeeper coach Alex Ramsay is reluctant to saddle the youngster with any sort of prediction over where his talents may take him, but has already been impressed by the 20-year-old's attitude. "There's obviously no doubt that he has a high level of technical ability both in possession and from a goalkeeping perspective," he said. "But what really stood out to me is the way he carried himself as a character. "He showed a real willingness to learn and contribute to the team and to the goalkeeping group in general throughout the camp. "But I just think the way he carried himself from a personal perspective really stood out to me." Bellamy is also closely monitoring Kit's progress, having brought him into an EFL training camp earlier in the summer. “You learn a lot and you get a lot as well,” Bellamy said at the time. “We’ve selected one or two we would like to see in certain areas that we’re going to need in the next few years. It’s been really good to get to see them and you always leave these type of weeks with a lot of optimism for the future. There are some really good young players coming through, so it’s great to be able to get to see them and for them to see us as well." A future Wales number one? When it comes to assessing the next generation, a new batch of goalkeeping talent will be one of the more pronounced items on the collective wishlist. Karl Darlow and Danny Ward look to be the two contenders right now, but at 35 and 33 respectively, it's natural to wonder how many more years either of them will be able to offer. Options beyond them are frankly rather thin right now, and it's not implausible that youngsters like Kit will become subjects of keen interest. "Craig has certain principles for what his goalkeepers have to be," dad Martyn adds. "They have to be able to handle football with their feet, and Kit certainly fits that bill. "So obviously Craig is delighted for Kit to get this move, like he is for any Welsh player given this opportunity. "With respect to our current goalkeepers, as brilliant as I think they all are in what they've done in their careers, they're all about 30. "So there is an opportunity, you know, in the years ahead for a young one to try and establish themselves. "But he's only going to do that if he's out playing games." Martyn believes a loan move away probably awaits, although the rigours of Premier League 2 and the UEFA Youth League will both prove valuable experiences. Disney, meanwhile, has fully accepted the possibility of a loan move back to Connah's Quay, but has no doubt Kit has all the attributes needed to one day play at the highest level. "I think he's got the full dynamic of what a footballer or goalkeeper needs to be a part of a Premier League squad," he added. "But any footballer needs a bit of luck, to stay injury-free and to have a breakthrough. They need an opportunity, somebody to back them and trust them. "That doesn't matter whatever level that's at. We had to back and trust Kit as an 18, 19-year-old keeper. "So I think it's going to take a little bit of time. He's going to have to make sure he earns his stripes in training every day at Manchester United, and then he's obviously going to have to earn his stripes while getting a loan move where possible and really kick on. "But as I said to my owner back in June of last year, I do think Kit Margetson will play for Wales, and he will be Wales' number one someday." *Follow all of our social channels to ensure you stay up to date with the latest Swans news. Sign up to our daily newsletter here and our WhatsApp channel here. Our Swansea City correspondent Tom Coleman is also on social media. He can be found on his X account here, on Instagram, on TikTok and on Facebook.