"Let's see what happens" - Swansea City boss Luke Williams speaks out on recent Connor Roberts admission | OneFootball

Luke Williams spoke about Connor Roberts amid suggestions of a potential Swansea City return

Luke Williams has showered Burnley right-back Connor Roberts with praise after the Welsh international recently admitted that he'd like to return to Swansea City one day.

Roberts joined Swansea as a nine-year-old and became a key player for the club after breaking into the starting XI during the 2017/18 season, helping them reach the Championship play-offs in consecutive seasons.

However, after their 2021 play-off final defeat to Brentford, Roberts departed for then Premier League side Burnley, but his contract is set to expire at the end of the current season, and his future at Turf Moor is up in the air.

His Burnley side played Swansea prior to the international break, and while on Wales duty he told BBC's Feast of Football show that he'd like to return to SA1 in the future, leading to speculation that a summer move may materialise when his deal with the Clarets expires.

He said: "Hopefully one day I can go back to Swansea and I can be on their team for once. There will hopefully be good memories when I do go back and play for them again."

Swansea boss Williams is clearly a big fan of Roberts too, meaning a summer deal could potentially be on the cards.

Luke Williams on a potential return to Swansea City for Connor Roberts

Williams, who was appointed Swansea's assistant manager in 2021 just prior to Roberts' exit, admitted that while he's never had the chance to work with him, he's a big fan of his and spoke about how the right-back had congratulated him on being appointed the club's manager earlier this year.

Speaking in his pre-match press conference prior to their clash with Leeds United, Williams said: "I love this guy. When I was assistant here, I saw him in the canteen for a week. He didn’t train because he had a small injury, and he was on the brink of moving on.

"That stuck with me because I was quite sad I didn’t get to work with him on the grass.

"I think I had 200 messages when I came back [as head coach] and the very first one? Mr Roberts. A properly genuine, nice, supportive message because he does love it here. It's his club.

"He's an incredible player and a great character, so let's see what happens in the future. I don’t know. But I liked the interview."

However, Williams admitted that a player of Roberts' quality would command the interest of most Championship clubs, and that any deal to bring the 29-year-old back to south Wales would be in the future.

"He'd walk into almost any Championship team, let's be honest," Williams added.

"He is a brilliant player in a really brilliant team, highly motivated for that team to go and get promoted, I am sure.

"I don’t think he is talking about anything else other than that, but he makes no secret about how much he loves this club, and we all understand that.

"We are talking about something potential in the future, and no disrespect towards Burnley whatsoever."

While Roberts would improve the quality of Swansea's squad now, strengthening at right-back probably isn't a priority for Williams at the moment.

Swansea have the likes of Josh Key, Kyle Naughton, Cyrus Christie and youngster Sam Parker as options at right-back, and while Naughton and Christie are out of contract at the end of the season, a return for Roberts could stunt the development of Key and Parker.

Key has been impressive this season, with Williams comparing him to Gareth Bale earlier this month, while youngster Parker is seen as Swansea's next big thing, and they recently tied him down to a new deal amid interest from the Premier League and Europe.

Swansea have been burnt by re-signing former players in the past too, Wilfried Bony being a perfect example of that, and in more recent times Joe Allen was re-signed after a decade away but has struggled to maintain fitness and string a run of starts together.

However, Roberts is still playing regularly for a top Championship side, so may not face the problems that Bony and Allen had when they returned, but re-signing him certainly wouldn't be risk-free.