SWINDON Town manager Luke Williams thinks he has a star of the future in the form of 16-year-old Jordan Young.

The Chippenham-born forward became the fourth youngest player in the history of Swindon Town at 16 years and 186 days old, behind Lloyd Macklin, Paul Rideout and Ernie Hunt, when he made his debut from the bench on Tuesday night in the 1-0 defeat to Port Vale and impressed in his short cameo.

Young, who turned down a move to Premier League champions Chelsea at the age of 12, became the latest product of Swindon’s academy to make it through to the first team, following in the footsteps of the Thompson brothers and Miles Storey, and Williams is keen to make sure he doesn’t let his talent go to waste.

“I think he showed tremendous composure for a young player,” he told BBC Wiltshire after Tuesday night’s defeat.

“He showed that he has got some real qualities - to be able to receive the ball under pressure and turn.

“From what I have seen of Jordan, as he develops into a first team regular we could be looking at something very special.

“It is something we have probably all seen throughout history in football, young players that have got a lot of potential not fulfilling it, and I think that is part of the job of the staff to manage Jordan’s development as a first team player.”

In contrast, Williams has admitted that Jordan Stewart is still struggling to settle at the club after his summer move from Glentoran.

With just six substitutes picked at Vale Park it seemed the perfect opportunity to include the 20-year-old, who last appeared as a second-half sub in Mark Cooper’s last game in charge at Millwall, but Williams does not believe he is ready yet.

“Jordan has had a difficult time settling,” he added.

“It is not only a change of environment and coming out of the comfort zone in terms of his family and friends and network of people around him, he has also struggled with settling into full-time football and understanding that every single day of the week you have to perform and compete.

“It has taken a period of time for Jordan to adjust and we are hoping he does get there because we know he has got qualities of a player. Unless you can function day-to-day then there is no guarantees that you are going to make it.”