Gallas: “I’m sure you will stay in the Premier League!”
With the Swans heading to Stamford Bridge on Saturday – the former club of both Swans’ coach Claude Makélélé and his compatriot William Gallas – the pair were reunited once more as they met up at the Swans’ Fairwood training complex for an interview on French television.
Gallas, who played with Makélélé at Chelsea, Marseille and for the French national side, was full of praise for his fellow Frenchman in an interview for SwansTV, joking that he could play “with a cigar in his mouth” with Makélélé anchoring the midfield in front of him.
Makélélé famously had his role on the pitch named after him, described as “The holding or defensive midfielder is the player who plays behind the midfield like a sweeper but in front of the defence.” It is a role that has most recently been perfected by N’Golo Kanté, who the Swans’ will be coming up against when they face the Blues on the weekend.
Gallas was also complimentary of the current Swansea squad. He told SwansTV:
I know your target is to stay in the Premier League, and with the players you’ve got, I’m sure you’ll stay in the the Premier League.
In a separate interview with Makélélé himself, Gallas gave an insight into what it was like playing with the former Real Madrid midfielder. He joked with Makélélé:
What I know, if something is wrong, you will be beating your players and you will shout at them, like you [used to] shout at me when we used to play together!
Makélélé isn’t the only member of the Swansea setup that Gallas is familiar with though, having lined up alongside both Gylfi Sigurdsson and Kyle Naughton in the twilight years of his career at Tottenham.
The former Arsenal captain went on to say how he was impressed with the atmosphere around the club, and that he thinks it is that which will play a huge role in deciding our fate in the Premier League.
He ended his interview with something of a sweeping statement:
When the atmosphere between the players is very good, you can see that on the pitch. I’m sure all the players will fight for eachother, and at the end of the season, Swansea will stay in the Premier League. I’ll keep my fingers crossed.
I think I speak on behalf of Swansea City fans across the globe in saying, I hope we haven’t just been jinxed by William Gallas.