Swansea City will be eternally grateful for West Ham player decision | OneFootball

West Ham released Leon Britton in the summer of 2003 and Swansea City took full advantage

Swansea City enjoyed a meteoric rise from League 2 strugglers to the Premier League and European football over the course of a decade, and it's fair to say that one man in particular played a hugely important role in that journey.

Leon Britton wasn't a player too many Swansea supporters knew much about when he completed a short-term loan move to the Vetch Field from West Ham in December 2002, and while his stay at the club was meant to be a brief one, the midfielder would become a Swans legend over the course of the next 16 years.

Despite impressing in the fourth tier for Swansea during the 2002/03 campaign, West Ham decided to release Britton in the summer of 2003, and it's fair to say that it's a decision that worked out well for the Swans.

Swansea City capitalised on West Ham's decision to release Leon Britton

After struggling to break into the first-team at West Ham, Britton was allowed to leave the Hammers on loan and joined a Swansea side fighting for their Football League status.

However, despite being thrown into the deep end, Britton helped the Swans survive on the final day of the season after a 4-2 win over Hull City, and did enough to be named the Third Division's PFA Fans' Player of the Year for the 2002/03 campaign, no mean feat given Swansea's struggles.

Despite impressing on loan, West Ham decided to release Britton that summer, and it wasn't long before Swansea boss Brian Flynn capitalised on this and signed the diminutive midfielder on a permanent basis.

It proved to be a real coup for the Swans, and Britton played an instrumental role in helping the club win promotion to League One in 2005, sparking a remarkable run which eventually saw them reach the Premier League.

It was clear to all Swansea supporters that Britton was a class act, and while he may not have been quite good enough to break into West Ham's team, he was too good to be playing at League 2 level.

The midfielder was a mainstay in the centre of the park for Swansea until the summer of 2010, when he broke the Jack Army's hearts by completing a permanent move to Sheffield United in a bid to take his career to the next step.

However, a couple of months later in January 2011, Britton performed a U-turn, rejoining Swansea, and it was clear that he'd made a mistake departing South Wales in the first place. He said: "It was a mistake and I should never have left Swansea. Hindsight is a wonderful thing and none of us would make any mistakes if we knew what was ahead of us."

He returned just in time to help Swansea reach the Premier League in May 2011, and Britton's meteoric rise wasn't done there.

League Cup success followed in 2013, enabling Swansea to qualify for the Europa League, and over the course of the next couple of seasons the Welsh side cemented their status as an established Premier League club.

With Britton's age catching up with him towards the end of his time at Swansea, gametime was harder to come by, but with the Swans battling relegation towards the end of the 2016/17 campaign, Paul Clement brought him in from the cold, and he helped the club move away from danger to seal a 15th place finish.

However, there was to be no fairytale ending for Britton at Swansea, and he played his 508th and final game for the club in May 2018 as a 2-1 home defeat to Stoke City brought down the curtain on their seven-year stay in the Premier League and condemned them to the Championship.

Despite this, Britton is remembered as one of Swansea's greatest ever players, and the Jack Army will always be grateful that West Ham chose to release him in 2003.

Leon Britton has remained involved with Swansea City since retirement - he's a true club legend

Britton had brief spells as a player with local Welsh clubs Llanelli Town and Ammanford Town after retiring from professional football, and he's also held a range of different roles with the Swans.

He was appointed football advisor to the board of directors in May 2019, and also had a spell as Sporting Director, showing how highly-regarded he is at the club, and he's still a familiar face at the Swansea.com Stadium to this day.

Despite being born and bred in London, Britton has made Swansea his home, and he'll arguably be remembered as one of the greatest players to ever pull on a white shirt.

Football has a funny way of working, and while nobody could have seen this coming when he signed a short-term loan deal with the club in December 2002, his circumstances with West Ham meant that Swansea benefited from his services for the best part of 16 years.