‘Rusty’ former West Ham player hauled off in debut following Newcastle United exit

It was the 21-year-old’s first senior league start of his career as Swansea drew 1-1 at home to Birmingham City. Ashby played 69 minutes before being withdrawn with the Swans trailling 1-0.

After his season-long loan from Newcastle was confirmed on Friday, Ashby told the Swansea club website: “It’s a massive opportunity for me, so to finally be here after a good trip in the US is great. I’m feeling fit and ready and I’m ready to go at it.

“The facilities are top here so it can’t get much better.

“I’m a right-back or full-back. I can play left-back, which I know some people will be happy to hear!

“I’m feel I’m very attacking. Scoring goals is what everyone wants to do in football and since a young age, I’ve always wanted to score goals. I started off as a number 10, so scoring goals and assisting is something that I want to do.

“The Championship is one of the biggest leagues in the world so this is a massive step in my career. If I can bring some glory to Swansea at the same time, then that’s a perfect match.”

This pre-season has seen Ashby feature for Newcastle’s first-team for the first time since signing from West Ham United in January.

And his first competitive outing of 2023 was assessed by Wales Online, who gave the player a score of 5/10.

Explaining the mark, Wales Online reporter Tom Coleman wrote: “Couple of classy touches early on, and produced a couple of decent deliveries, but standard of passing overall just wasn’t there.

“Looked rusty during a frustrating debut. Subbed.”