Summer window will give the board a chance to truly redeem themselves
They say time flies when you’re having fun, and it’s certainly been a fun couple of months at the Liberty Stadium.
We’re part-way through March already, and as things stand, the Swans’ look set to join an elite group of clubs to have survived relegation after being bottom at Christmas. With everything that has gone on this season, it’s fair to say the feeling around the entire club isn’t half has hostile as it was before the turn of the year.
Given the unpredictability of the Premier League it’s important to not look too far into the future just yet, but it’s hard not to give thought to our potential business in the transfer window this Summer.
It’s a transfer window which, for Paul Clement, could really see him kick on as a manager in the top flight. It’s not only Clement who will be feeling the heat though, with the transfer window giving a slightly more settled boardroom a huge chance to redeem themselves after a torrid last Summer.
Kaplan, Levien and – to some extent – Huw Jenkins made a huge statement in January by turning down offers for Sigurdsson and Llorente, while the signings of Tom Carroll and Martin Olsson have added not only depth but quality in positions that we were lacking in previously.
We can only hope that the Summer will play out in a similar fashion, because it’s unlikely that we’ll be able to afford another season in transition. Assuming that we stay up this season, there will be no excuses for another poor transfer window – both in terms of incomings and outgoings.
The likes of Franck Tabanou and Kyle Bartley need to be moved on permanently, while the futures of Bafetimbi Gomis will more than likely be up in the air in the not-so-distant future.
It’s worth noting that realistically, it would probably make more sense to find Borja a loan move back to his native Spain given that finding a team willing to take him onto their wage bill would be a task in itself. It’s a transfer window that could certainly become extremely complicated very easily.
Then there’s the question of our defence. If you had asked three months ago, we’d be selling Fernandez and looking for one, maybe even two, experienced defenders to come into our first team. Now though, it’s not that simple. Alfie Mawson has been a standout player for us this season, and Fernandez’ form under Clement has seen him awarded with a new long-term contract. Neither of the two will realistically find themselves sidelined going into next season, making signing a quality defender a little bit trickier.
In terms of midfielders, I think we may be on the back end of one of the most stressful transfer sagas of the summer. We cannot lose Gylfi Sigurdsson. If we manage to keep some of Europe’s biggest clubs at bay, keeping Gylfi will once again be one of our best pieces of businesses in a transfer window.
For all that can be said of last Summer, it’s equally important that we try to put that behind us. The problems behind the scenes are by no means over, but with the Supporter’s Trust seemingly reestablishing their stamp on the club, we can only hope that this season will be an anomaly.
Personally, I can’t help but think that staying in the Premier League this season will be the making of us as an established top-flight club. If the board play their cards right this Summer, we’ll reap the benefits in both the near and distant future.