At the end of a long, long 24 hours, we can categorically
say that Swansea City
This time last season, barely-known marquee signing Borja
Baston had arrived for a club-record fee. Fast forward to now and we've got a
real star in our hands for a year at the very least with Tammy Abraham. And it
cost nothing! His first goal came against Palace last weekend and he's clearly
got a great deal of potential.
Fernando Llorente worked out an absolute treat last summer
and his goals were huge last season, but swapping him for a younger, equally proven
Premier League goalscorer and Swans hero in Wilfried Bony should send us wild,
wild wild all over again. The Swans have two fantastic choices to lead their
forward line again.
Needless to say that a lack of strength or depth in the
centre of the park was a real concern. Here we are now with Roque Mesa, Sam
Clucas, Tom Carroll, Leroy Fer, Ki Sung-yueng, Leroy Fer, Golden Boy Renato
bloody Sanches and Leon. Outstanding work has been done in this department.
Question marks for the season DO still remain in the
defence. The sale of Stephen Kingsley leaves no reserve at left back/left
wing-back, while a deal for Santiago Arias at right back never materialised and
no central defenders arrived other than the return of Kyle Bartley. Clement has
made the current Swans defence into a solid force, but quality recruits and
depth is still a slight concern.
Equally, there's worries over creativity. The mercurial
Gylfi Sigurdsson was at the heart of everything for Swans last season and
everybody knew it. Everton saw fit to spend £45m on the Icelandic heartthrob
with good reason. The signing of Nacer Chadli would've offered significant
threat and creativity from the flanks, where options are clearly lacking.
Hopefully the wing-backs in the new 3-5-2 formation can stay
fit AND continue to get involved on the offence as they did at the end of last
season. That's essentially the answer to Clement's biggest weaknesses going
forward.
Ultimately, the Swans are in a much better state than last season and fears of another relegation battle should be slowly fading away.
Don't forget - one of the world's best young prospects is a Jack, after all. The Swans are on the rise again!
'At the end of a long, long 24 hours, we can categorically say that Swansea City are in a much healthier position than they were heading into the transfer window.'
ReplyDeleteRe you Huw Jenkins? - we have brought in potential and that's all. I hope all incomers will be huge for us but at the moment a quick reality check shows we gave away two defences and replaced them with none. In midfield we have a potentially good signings in Mesa who looks like he could be a sensation but needs time to adapt and work on his fitness but who Clement doesn't trust; Clucas a solid performer from the Championship who (along with Olsson & Fer knows what losing a relegation scrap is like) is a solid enough player and will probably be with us longer than the others: Sanches, a Robbie James type midfielder who was a precocious youngster in Portugal before being an expensive let down in Germany who came to our attention in the Euros. A Euros won by Portugal with a solitary strike from ... Éder. The player who had been a Swan at the stet of the tournament and been roundly dismissed at the Liberty. So, Sanchez is pleasing to watch but is he effective? Strikers look good on paper but both are a gamble. Abraham has shown he can score given the right ball but how often will that happen? He has also shown he can spurn the easiest of easy chances - young and needs experience but do we have the time to groom a player for Chelsea: Wilf who I love to bits but has barely played for two seasons and only scored 2 last year (both against our worst defence ever). Certainly a crowd pleaser but so was Lee Trundle and his return was less than stellar. The attackers (2 EPL goals & 0 assists last season) replace 25 goals &14 assists. Add to that the loss of pace and the ageing of already aged (but very good) players and the, 'Ultimately, the Swans are in a much better state than last season and fears of another relegation battle should be slowly fading away.' can nay be described as ludicrous.
Hi Robert,
ReplyDeleteAppreciate your comment! Shame to see that some fans aren't happy with the business that's been done, but that's understandable. Agree with you to an extent but some of your points I don't entirely agree with. Clucas had a fantastic season with Hull last season, regardless of their relegation. Their fans adored him and the players voted him as Players' Player of the Season. Re: Sanches, he could scarcely make an impression on a midfield containing Arturo Vidal, Thiago and Xabi Alonso, which isn't much of a surprise. The fact that Man United, Bayern, Liverpool, Milan and co were interested shows you just how highly regarded he is. It's a gamble on a young player, but we're not talking about a gamble on a Football League player here - this is a winner of the Golden Boy award, recently won by Anthony Martial, Raheem Sterling, Paul Pogba and Isco. With regards to Bony's return, I completely understand the concerns but it's important to remember that Llorente also had a poor record for the two previous seasons at Juventus and Sevilla. In less minutes at Man City, Bony outscored Llorente in the league. Everything at Stoke is very hard to judge after his publicised fallout with Mark Hughes. It's going to be a very interesting season but I feel that Clement has earned the right to make these changes.