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Swansea City appear to be closing in on the shock appointment of England World Cup winning under-17 boss Steve Cooper as their new manager.

Cooper, from Pontypridd and who played in the Welsh Premier League, has emerged as the new front-runner for the role.

His England youth side conquered the world two years ago, beating Brazil and Spain en route.

Cooper feels it is time to move into club management and Swans chairman Trevor Birch is believed to have been hugely impressed by a presentation the 39-year-old gave after he was invited to an interview.

The Swans spoke to around 60 people about the job, with a short-list said to have been drawn up of five leading candidates.

Amongst those were former Wales assistant manager Mark Bowen and John Eustace, who was caretaker boss of Queens Park Rangers when they beat Swansea 4-0 towards the end of the season.

(Image: AP)

Bowen is also understood to have interviewed well, with a Powerpoint presentation of his plans for the club which also impressed Birch and was odds-on favourite with the bookmakers.

Having worked as a coaching kingpin under Mark Hughes with Wales and a number of Premier League clubs, highly rated Bowen is keen to break into management in his own right.

From Neath, he was a Swans fan from a young age, watching the team from the Vetch terraces before leaving south Wales to join Tottenham at the age of 15. He is thought to have seen this as the ideal opportunity to come home and manage his local team.

Eustace is another who impressed the Swans, while the likes of Michael Appleton, Gus Poyet and Cameron Toshack have also been linked with the role.

However it is our understanding that Cooper has leaped to the front of the queue, with Bowen likely to take up a role as Director of Football at Reading instead.

(Image: Southampton FC/Getty Images) (Image: Getty Images)

Cooper has come from nowhere to number-one contender in the eyes of the Swans, although the move would first have to be sanctioned by the club's American owners.

They may express reservations about his lack of experience of managing senior professionals, which could yet stop the move from happening.

However, Cooper's pedigree in terms of developing young talent - something the Swans hierarchy place great store in - is impeccable and could win him the day.

He is ranked extremely highly within the Football Association, having won the Under-17s World Cup with England where Cooper got the best out of young talents like Jadon Sancho, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Phil Foden.

Whilst Head of Liverpool's Academy, Cooper also brought through the likes of Raheem Sterling, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Wales teen ace Ben Woodburn and highly-rated striker Rhian Brewster.

The conquering England side Cooper took charge of played impressive possession football, something the Swans are insisting upon with their new manager, on their way to beating Spain in the final to become world champions for the first time at that age level.

Midfield playmaker Foden was named best player at the tournament with Brewster winning the Golden Boot as top scorer.

From Pontypridd, Cooper comes from an impressive football background as his dad Keith Cooper was a top Football League referee from 1982-93.

Cooper junior was on the books of Wrexham as a player but didn't make any appearances at the Racecourse. He had Welsh Premier spells with TNS, Rhyl and Bangor before moving into coaching at an early age as head of youth development with Wrexham.

(Image: Sunday Mail)

Cooper then moved to Liverpool, where he became Academy manager, and helped groom Premier League Player of the Season Sterling for the top. More recent Cooper graduates of his Anfield Academy to make the first team are Champions League winning right-back Alexander-Arnold and Liverpool's youngest scorer Woodburn.

Cooper describes his coaching style as "attractive football" with a "clear identity" and "good organisation and structure".

He has previously said: "It's about playing our way... we want to play with purpose, dominate possession, play forward and get the ball back as quick as we can. That's always our plan."

Ryan Giggs' Wales assistant Albert Stuivenberg, Newport County boss Mike Flynn and Tranmere's Micky Mellon were each linked with the Swans job, but are not believed to have made the interview stage.

Swansea's American owners Steve Kaplan and Jason Levien are the ones who will make the final decision, but it appears they are edging towards appointing Cooper.