SWANS: Wales midfielder Cooper set for exit with League One loan agreed

Ollie Cooper is set to leave Swansea City, with the Wales midfielder expected to spend the season on loan at a League One club.

Head coach Vitor Matos confirmed an agreement is in place between the two clubs, though the move has yet to be signed off.

“He’s at an age where he needs to play,” Matos said.

“There’s an agreement between clubs for a loan, but it’s still not confirmed, so when it is confirmed we will speak about it.”

Cooper joined the Swans as an 11-year-old and has made 118 first-team appearances, scoring nine goals.

But he has barely featured under the current head coach, managing a single substitute appearance in 2025-26.

His last extended run came away from the club. Cooper was allowed to join Wigan Athletic on a season-long loan last September, having struggled for minutes under former boss Alan Sheehan, but played only 13 times before the deal was cut short in January.

He was not involved on Saturday as Swansea closed out pre-season with a 1-0 win over CD Leganes.

With his contract at the Championship club expiring next summer, a loan now could prove the beginning of the end of a 15-year association.

Cooper is the third academy graduate to head for the exit this summer, and all three are Wales internationals.

Liam Cullen completed his move to Leicester City on Thursday after 19 years at his boyhood club, while Cameron Congreve is set to join Belgian side Westerlo for a seven-figure fee.

That is a considerable amount of home-grown experience leaving Landore in the space of a week, at a club whose academy has long been its calling card.

Matos has shown he will keep looking to that pathway regardless, handing extensive minutes to academy players during the pre-season defeat to VfL Bochum.

Business is going the other way too, with the Swans closing in on a left-back on loan, with Ghana winger Joseph Opoku, who netted the winner yesterday, already among five summer arrivals.

The season opens against Birmingham City in the League Cup at the Swansea.com Stadium next weekend.