91Èȱ¬

Swansea City have signed midfielder Matt Grimes from League Two side Exeter City.

The 19-year-old has joined Swansea for £1.75m, breaking Exeter's record transfer sale of £500,000.

The Grecians' player of 2013-14, has drawn comparisons with ex-England midfielder Glenn Hoddle.

"He could be a first-class player. He's played at England Under 20 level, I think he could play at the highest level," Exeter boss Paul Tisdale said.

Grimes was recently called up by England Under-20s and he will become Swansea's second signing of the January transfer window following the arrival of striker Nelson Oliveira on loan from Benfica.

He is not eligible for Swansea's FA Cup third round tie at Tranmere Rovers on Saturday having already appeared for Exeter City in their first round loss at Warrington Town.

"He's a very good young player who's been the pivotal member of our team over the last 12 months," Tisdale told 91Èȱ¬ Radio Devon.

"We're prepared for it, we were expecting it to happen, so it's not a surprise to us, but we will miss a very talented young players who we're very fond of.

"He's been a great contributor towards our upturn in form over the last two or three months."

And Tisdale says Grimes, who has been with Exeter since he was 10 years old, attracted the attention of a number of clubs in the Premier League.

"They, along with other clubs, made initial phone calls to us asking what the situation was, but of course we are structured by transfer windows these days so nothing could happen until the window opened.

"The interest has been there for a while and I imagine any club worth their salt would have been keeping a very close eye on him.

"I'm sure that Swansea think that we've got a good deal here at Exeter.

"But I would imagine in the months to come, a year to come, they'll be more than happy with the deal."