Swansea City are searching for players on low contracts or negotiable loan deals for the rest of this window. They must have high technical analysis stats for any loan. Putting aside the other areas for examination which the club have relied upon, like psychological detail these are key times for the swans. With the window finishing in a few weeks head of football operations Josh Marsh has a number of players that fit the bill.
Russell Martin said recently. "I want to be realistic with people. We are not going to go out and sign a name they are probably really familiar with that they've seen at the Swansea.com Stadium for a long time coming against them. It's not the model, we are not in that market. It will be what it's been since we've come in. It will be young, hungry players”
So what’s been happening ?
Most of these players are young, in one case just turned eighteen, but can moulded in to a positive addition to the swans this season. The dreams of utilising the Ryan Bennett cash for more additions have almost gone with Reading pulling out of any deal for him for now. His salary a huge issue and it could be that the swans have to bite the bullet and come to some form of solution with him. But as far as Russell Martin is concerned he isn’t a part of the squad and not training. It seems very odd to us.
What we do know is that this week the performance data for two players is being reviewed, speculation on Brooke Norton-Duffy is sound but Huddersfield and Hull are ahead of the swans in interest for this player. Cameron Archer of Aston Villa who had an excellent loan period at Preston North End last season was of interest as well. His stats for last season returned seven goals in twenty games. Unfortunately for the swans Cameron has impressed so much in pre season for Villa their manager Steven Gerrard has said over the weekend "We’ve made a decision with Cameron Archer that he’ll be staying in the door. He will be part of the first team group & needs to be ready when called upon to contribute to the team” That was a blow.
Amad Diallo is expected to join a championship club on loan
Another player Martin likes is Amad Diallo at Manchester United, a fast winger who spent some time at Glasgow Rangers last season. Again the loan was a success with Diallo scoring on his debut, however, now an Ivory Coast international expectations of contact with United were minimilised recently. His salary is definitely a stumbling block. Kaide Gordon At Liverpool is very young at seventeen but offers similar qualities to Diallo. Again he is a player Martin likes and has been analysed by the swans. Gordon scored for Liverpool against Shrewsbury Town in last seasons FA Cup, a game Swansea player Nathanael Ogbeta excelled in before his move. Gordon is a realistic proposition, but the complications with Rhys Williams last season during his loan could put a dampener on matters. Any loan deal for him was scuppered when he was injured prior to Liverpool’s Asia tour this summer. He is now back in training and the timing could be right to step up interest.
Ogbeta, Bennett, Kyle Joseph and Jordon Garrick would all have provided some realistic hope of a result against Oxford United in tonight’s League Cup tie at the Kassam Stadium. An opportunity for them to show Martin their benefits to the squad. Garrick especially has all the qualities that Martin is looking for elsewhere.
As much as the season has been a disappointment to date, these are of course early days, with Martin stating ‘if I went through all the players we have on our list we would be here all week’ it’s an indication of how hard the club are working. However, they are working in a small market, and many other championship clubs are in that market as well. The swans to us seem in a bit of a mess at the moment with so many players not being preferred and then of course that limits team selection options.
Tonight’s game kicks off at 7.45pm and is on iFollow for international fans. There is commentary via the usual routes including Swans TV.