Swansea City youngster Matt Grimes has claimed that the top-quality players in the first team are pushing him even harder to challenge for a spot in the squad.
The England Under-20 captain has featured twice in the Capital One Cup this season, scoring one goal, but manager Garry Monk is yet to include him in a Premier League game.
Grimes is fighting Jonjo Shelvey, Gylfi Sigurdsson, Ki Sung-yeung and Jack Cork for a place in the starting lineup.
"I have always wanted to push myself, and now I'm at a level where I'm competing and in the manager's mind when it comes to selection for the forthcoming game," Grimes told the club's official website.
"I've not played much yet, but I feel I'm training well every day and I'm in a good place. I'm competing with the likes of Jonjo, Jack, Leon, Ki and Gylfi for positions, and they have unbelievable talent.
"When you're pushing for places with quality like that then it can only raise my own levels. I can take lots of positives from it."
Grimes made three Premier League appearances last season.
