Swansea City defender Ben Wilmot has admitted his frustration at a lack of first-team opportunities since his arrival at the club over the summer.
Wilmot joined the Welsh club on a season-long loan deal from Watford back in July, but he has struggled to establish himself at the Liberty Stadium and is yet to make a league appearance for Steve Cooper's side.
The 19-year-old has been kept out of the side by the impressive form of defensive pair Mike van der Hoorn and Joe Rodon, which has limited Wilmot to featuring exclusively in Swansea's Carabao Cup campaign so far.
Swansea's fine start to the Championship season has meant Wilmot has found opportunities hard to come by. He would have been expecting to feature in the Swans' League Cup third-round tie this evening, but he finds himself cup-tied as the game is against his parent club Watford.
The former Stevenage defender confesses that the lack of game time has left him frustrated at this early stage in the season, but he understands the situation due to Swansea's impressive form.
"From a personal point of view it’s a bit frustrating that I’m not getting as many games so far as I wanted to, but it’s still early days and we’re joint top of the league so I can’t really complain too much. Everyone’s happy and it’s a great place to be,” he told the Watford website.
“I’ve been a bit unfortunate because of how well the two centre-halves have been doing, so I can’t really get a game in the league at the moment. But I’ve just got to bide my time, keep working hard and playing well when I get the chance.”
The Verdict
It is understandable that Wilmot is not happy with the fact he is yet to feature in the league, but there is not much Cooper can do about it if Rodon and van der Hoorn are thriving together.
The defender would have surely arrived at the Liberty Stadium with a hope of breaking into the first team early on in the season, but I'm convinced he will get a chance later on in the campaign.
Swansea supporters will compare Wilmot's situation to that of Cameron Carter-Vickers last season as he was also struggling for game time, but then became a key player when Rodon got injured in the second half of the season.
It is possible that Wilmot will follow a similar trajectory. He just needs to keep impressing in training as he still has every chance of being a success in South Wales.