Swansea City midfielder Owain Tudur Jones has joined League One side Norwich City on a three-year-contract.

The Welsh international put in a transfer request and went "in search of regular football" after being offered a contract extension by the Swans at the end of last season.

The Swans, who had the option of extending his current contract by another 12 months, will receive an undisclosed compensation fee for the 24-year-old dependant on appearances and the future success of Norwich City.

OTJ, who spent the final two months of last season on loan at Swindon, joined the Swans at the start of the 2005-06 campaign for just £5,000 from Welsh Premier side Bangor City after a successful trial period at the Liberty Stadium.

He completed a medical and agreed personal terms at Carrow Road tonight and the paperwork is expected to be lodged with the Football League on Wednesday.

A fluent Welsh speaker, the midfielder had a dream start to his first season as a professional after becoming a regular in the Swans side under former manager Kenny Jackett, while also making his Wales Under-21 debut.

It really was Roy of the Rovers stuff for the 6ft 3in OTJ who had failed to make the grade as a 13 year old on trial at Liverpool, Everton and Oldham. One of the reasons, would you believe it, was the fact that he was too small!

But having been handed his League of Wales debut as a 16 year old by Peter Davenport, OTJ started to make a name for himself on the senior scene.

Although he was knocked back again following trials at Aston Villa at 17 and Chelsea two years later, the student remained focused and eventually earned himself a professional contract at Swansea after turning down the chance to join Swindon Town.

While he burst onto the scene in that first season, a serious knee injury eventually forced him to travel to the Rocky Mountains in Colorado, America, to go under the knife of world-renowned surgeon Dr Richard Steadman - the same surgeon who had operated on the likes of Michael Owen, Alan Shearer and Ronaldo.

He eventually made his long-awaited comeback against Bristol Rovers back on March 24, 2008, having been out of action for 16 months.

Then two days later he won his first senior Welsh cap in a 2-0 win in Luxembourg.

But with the likes of Jordi Gomez, Leon Britton, Darren Pratley, Ferrie Bodde and Joe Allen ahead of him in the midfield pecking order, OTJ struggled to command regular football and made just four league starts and five from the bench last season.

But 11 league starts at Swindon at the end of last season confirmed his desire to sacrifice Championship life with the Swans in search of regular first team football.

Swansea City Football Club would like to wish Owain every success for the future.

Owain told Norwich's official website: "I'm looking forward to the next few years that I'll be spending at Norwich. Having been and had a look at the facilities, it's a club I'm thoroughly looking forward to playing for and all the challenges that lie ahead.

"I've spoken to the manager and listened to his plans for building the club back up and I want to be a part of that.

"The club has obviously been having a couple of rough years and it is time now to get back to the drawing board, start again and try to get the club climbing back up again.

"It is going to be tough, but as long as everybody at the club realises it's going to be tough and a huge challenge then I think we'll be all right.

"From playing for Swansea in League One for three years, I'm relatively experienced at this level and I know what it takes to win games at this level - and that is what we'll be trying to do."

Norwich manager, Bryan Gunn, added: "After Owain had figured for Wales in their recent win over Azerbaijan, we sat down with the player and his agent to thrash out terms. Now I'm delighted we are able to confirm we have brought him in on a three-year deal.

"I've spoken to Roberto Martinez, who was his manager at Swansea, and he comes highly recommended by Roberto and others in the game. I've seen him play myself a few times and I know he's impressed at Swansea and also at Swindon on loan.

"I know Owain will want to establish himself as a first team regular here and is hungry to do well for Norwich City.

"I'm delighted we have managed to stave off a number of other clubs who were interested in signing him to get him to join us."

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