Knight has found a welcoming home in Swansea

Former Chelsea trainee Knight, 23, has targeted a return to the Premiership - and feels he has found a club that can live up to his lofty desires.

"I started in the Premiership, I aim to finish there," Knight told BBC Sport.

"The manager and club are as ambitious as me and it's not beyond Swansea's reach, but Barnsley's a first hurdle."

Knight arrived at the Liberty Stadium for �125,000 from Brighton in January with something of a bad-boy reputation.

I'm settled for the first time in years, having fun, and it's showing on the pitch Leon Knight

He signed for Brighton from Chelsea for �100,000 in August 2003, the London club keen to jettison the talented 5ft 5in, nine-and-a-half-stone front man for disciplinary reasons.

His move from the Seagulls to west Wales followed a series of arguments with manager Mark McGhee.

Having burst onto the Swansea scene with a debut hat-trick against MK Dons, he was then relegated to bench duty with Lee Trundle leading the line.

But Knight, who showed his commitment to the club by buying a house in the area, bided his time and showed a refreshingly mature attitude.

"I knew I had to wait," he told BBC Sport Wales. "Lee and Adebayo Akinfenwa were playing well and I knew they could do the job.

"It was different at Brighton. I wasn't playing and there wasn't anyone scoring in my place.

"That was difficult to take and I was a hard person to be around, it was so frustrating.

Lee Trundle is still the big man at Swansea Leon Knight

"I needed a lifeline, and when I saw the set-up at Swansea I agreed to move straight away, it was perfect for me.

"I have to have a good man manager and Kenny Jackett is that. I need to keep my fire or I'm not the same person, but I'm using it on the pitch, it's not boiling over.

"I'm settled for the first time in years, having fun, and it's showing on the pitch."

With Trundle hitting a rare barren patch, Knight was brought into the team alongside Rory Fallon - his goals firing Swansea into the play-offs, then past Brentford in the knock-out stages.

Knight's tally now stands at 13 goals from 23 appearances in a Swansea shirt.

"I'm coming good at the right time, but I'm so fresh as I've hardly played," he said.

"Lee [Trundle] is still the big man at Swansea, such a talented player. I'm a different sort of striker, with me it's all about the goals.

I can't explain the high of scoring a play-off winner Leon Knight

"The two of us get on well, there's no bad blood about who's playing. We know that football is all about form and that any of the four first-choice strikers at the club can do the job."

Yet Knight - who two years ago scored the 84th-minute play-off winning penalty to send Brighton into the Championship at Bristol City's expense - is in danger of stealing Trundle's mantle as the man for the big occasion.

"I can't explain the high of scoring a play-off winner," said Knight. "It's beyond words, you just say 'wow' to yourself.

"I've had a rollercoaster career to date with more bad times than good, but it's taught me to cherish the highs.

"It would mean everything to do it with Swansea, for everyone, but especially for the fans.

"They've seen their club go so close to falling out of the league, but now they're back and buzzing.