DEFENDER Aaron Oakley knows he can’t rely on the fact he is a Welsh Under 21 international as he waits to discover if he has been offered a professional deal with Swindon Town.

The centre-back has been in and around the first-team since October, but is set to miss the rest of the season after fracturing a bone in his foot during the Town youth team’s game with a Combined Services side last week.

The 18-year-old now faces a nervous wait to find out if he is given the chance to go pro with the club he has been with for 10 years, and insisted his Wales U21 debut against Iceland in January will not be a deciding factor in any decision.

“I’ve got that behind me now after I made my debut against Iceland a few weeks ago, I got 20 minutes and we won 3-0 as well so it’s all very positive,” he said.

“I can’t really rely on that, although some people would say ‘I’ve played for Wales’, but football is a funny old game and anything can happen.

“I’m expecting the worst so if it doesn’t happen I’m prepared for it, and I’m not going to go off shout my head off about playing for Wales even though it’s good for me.”

The Wootton Bassett youngster likes to play the ball out from the back, and insisted he has picked-up tips from every senior centre-half at the club during his time training with the first-team.

“I would like to think I am my own sort of player, although people do often say ‘oh look, there’s Aden Flint’ because I look similar,” he said.

“I like to think of myself as a ball-playing centre-back even though I’m 6ft 6in and I like to pass the ball and I don’t just kick it long.

“I’ve been taught to pass the ball and I like doing that, and when I go away with Wales we are told to play the ball out from the back.

“If the ball is in the air to be won I will go in like Flinty and challenge for it.

“I’m learning from the senior players all the time, like the other day I had Joe Devera in my ear all day, and that’s a good thing because I am learning all the time.”