One of the less reported things to come out of ‘spy-gate’ and Bielsa’s presentation last week was the discovery of a file on his computer titled ‘20 JAMES WIN SWANSEA MP4.’ Leeds’ confirmed interest is a serious concern, given our history of keeping key players.
It’s been a long time since our owners rejected the chance to cash-in on any players we have at the first opportunity.
Selling James so early, and especially at the ridiculously low price of £3.5m that is being reported by Wales Online would surely be the most damning statement of intent from the Americans yet. We currently sit 6 points outside the play-offs, and although understandably not many fans believe we have a great chance of promotion, there’s always one side that goes on a great run towards the end of the campaign and rises up from mid-table into the play-off places. With Potter and the players we have, there’s no reason it can’t be us. We’ve got back to winning ways recently, and last weekend’s win over Sheffield United completed a league double over a side that was in the automatic places until that game. Selling James now to Leeds would signal to the fans that the club aren’t seriously trying to get promotion at the first time of asking, and would render the rest of the league campaign a little bit meaningless.
The timing as well could not be much worse, You would assume, after a poll on this site showed a third of season ticket holders were not planning to renew, and the deafening silence regarding any incomings, that the board wouldn’t be looking for more reasons to frustrate next season’s potential season-ticket holders. It’s clear we’re still paying for the mistakes of seasons gone by, quite literally as a decent chunk of our current revenue still goes towards paying off transfers from previous seasons. However there has to be better ways to economise without selling one of our brightest prospects. Our chief operating officer himself said the club didn’t want to ‘hire a bunch of mercenaries’ this window. Going along with that idea, we should not be selling one of our academy products, who often shows the desire and appetite that other wingers do not.
Selling James for anywhere near the reported mark of £3.5m would also continue a worrying trend of selling our key assets for well below market value. The fact we only managed to get around £4m and £6m for Premier League starters in Fernandez and Fabianski still baffles me. It either represents terrible negotiating during the sale, or during the initial contract negotiations by allowing the insertion of a relegation release clause at a lamentably low price. If James is to be sold, it’s critical we aren’t getting the raw end of the deal once more.
For now speculation seems to have cooled somewhat, with James himself saying he hasn’t ‘heard anything yet.’ But it seems like the last week of the transfer window will be spent sweating on keeping our current squad as it is, rather than expecting any new arrivals.
Felix Tasker is part of the 2019 Planet Swans writing team. If you would like to join this team and share your views with the world then please get in touch by commenting below or dropping an email to phil@planetswans.co.uk