The reason his refusal to use cocoapod is because the written pod is in the old quick version. So, unless we compile POD successfully, we cannot import this. You can change the old fast code to a new one using:
Xcode-> Edit-> Convert-> To Current Swift Syntax
You can also use the latest version and create a framework from the repo you mentioned: https://github.com/gilesvangruisen/Swift-YouTube-Player
I downloaded the latest version and created the youTubePlayer structure and linked it to the sample application and was able to import it.
Please check this link for an example application that also has a YouTubePlayer environment that you can use in your own project.
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