Okay, it’s fantastic news Swansea City are to be trusted to bring on players who are at the biggest football clubs in the world. Ethan Laird from Manchester United, and of course Rhys Williams from Liverpool are with the swans this season. Last season Marc Guehi earned Chelsea twenty five million pounds when he left the swans and landed at Crystal Palace. Rhian Brewster earned Liverpool the same sum the season before.

Amidst all that the so called more established news outlets reported yesterday of Manchester City also wanting a little dip in to the Swansea City training philosophy pot as well. And who can blame them ? They are hardly going to go anywhere else outside of the premier league. Because there is nowhere else for them to go outside of the premier league that has a proper football philosophy and a mindset that is based on development and cultivation of a players skill set. James McAtee is the player being touted as a potential signing, but then his original club, Manchester United, and even Barcelona are believed to want him. The attacking midfielder has scored 15 goals in 14 games for the academy this season. His most recent game saw him claim a hat-trick against Club Brugge in their UEFA Youth League game in the week.

Mark Allen who was instrumental is bringing Olivier Ntcham to the swans has close links with Pep Guardiola at Manchester City, so again the links we will hear about from now until the end of January are obvious. We can also reveal that Jack Clarke at Spurs is being touted to championship clubs and there is nothing more that his club would like than to see him at the swans. That was confirmed to me yesterday whilst working on another news story, Luton too are contenders along with Stoke City, but as we have said, which club would you choose ?
Another Manchester City player who should become available in January, albeit a far more valued first team squad player is Cole Palmer, now that’s a a player Russell Martin is certainly interested in. The talk yesterday, albeit off the record with a few more informed swans watchers is that Martin is very keen on Palmer. The issue is will Manchester City want a first team squad player to leave mid season ?

And more to the point, would Palmer now he has sniffed the first team squad at the citizens really want to take that big step down ? Palmer’s record last season was nothing short of sensational, scoring thirteen goals and chipping in with six assists in eighteen Premier League 2 appearances was phenomenal. City’s young side destroyed all comers and won their league at a canter. The teenager was seen on the bench four times in City’s campaign last season as well. And then Palmer made his first-team debut in the Carabao Cup fourth-round tie against Burnley in late September last year. His champions league debut this week displayed a player very much in Guardiola’s thoughts. But he did drop a hint that Palmer is still a second team player.

Then there’s another issue.

With all due respects to Palmer, Clarke and McAtee if any of them did secure a place on loan at the swans, would they make the starting eleven ? Olivier Ntcham, Jamie Paterson, Flynn Downes, Korey Smith, Matt Grimes ( a question mark remains over his long term future ) have all shown they are going to be hard to shift if they remain injury free. Of course the speculation is that Yan Dhanda will leave in January, if not in the summer, his opportunities will certainly be very rare. Jordan Garrick is settled at Plymouth, and Liam Walsh seems second or even third choice as it stands. I suppose a few injuries would give a loan player an opportunity come next year. But as Rhys Williams is finding out even after a memorable season last time around at Liverpool, nothing is guaranteed.

Pep talk in the kitchen
Palmer who is only nineteen years old bagged his club’s fourth goal just over two minutes after coming on in the champions league in midweek, but Guardiola has called for patience over his rise to the first team. “Cole has a special quality in front of the box, a talent that is difficult to find,” said Guardiola in his post-match press conference. When he has the ball there, most of the time, it ends up in the net. It’s difficult to find that. I know how it works with young players. We have to be calm and patient. His position is the second team, but at the same time, he trains with us and works with our principles. I am happy with the goal. He could have done a few actions a little bit better, but that is normal. It is experience. The people in this world want things immediately, quick, but everything needs time,” he added. “You cannot cook a good dish if you don’t spend time in the kitchen. So, it takes time.”

Saturday morning round up : Bournemouth v Swansea City
Scott Parker has spoken generously about Russell Martin and his attributes since arriving at Swansea City. Leading up to today’s championship game of the day clash, and after a midweek defeat Parker was slightly pensive speaking to the press. He knows only too well that the swans possess everything in their armoury to deliver a second home loss to his side today. On Martin he said. “The manager has gone in there and started slowly, as you’d expect from a new manager coming in creating new ideas. But certainly the way they have picked up results you can clearly see they are a good side. They have a clear way about them, so it’s going to be a really tough game for us. We understand that. We need to be fully aware of the assets and problems they are going to cause us, which we will be. There are also elements to our game which I feel can hurt them as well. If there’s one thing I can be assured and confident of is that its going to be a very tough game.”

At his game press briefing yesterday I was impressed once again with Russell Martin’s conversation and dialogue with the gathered journalists. Swansea boss Russell Martin has stated that he will be making changes against league leaders Bournemouth today. The Swans boss has named an unchanged line-up for their last two league games. Winning four out of their last five games, they’ll be hoping to continue their seasons upturn later on this afternoon. “It’s about balance,” said Martin. “We have been able to give people some time off the pitch in the last few games, Joel (Piroe) and Oli (Ntcham) in particular. There will be a change or two, I’m sure of that. With the way we play with intensity and tempo, it’s not easy to keep playing at this level. There are guys who are making it really difficult to leave them out, and it’s been quite a settled side for the last few games which has helped. It’s a balance of work and rest between the two games. Hopefully, we’ve got it right.”

Another low ball from Martin perhaps ? He’s done it before.

At least some of the football world is beginning to sit up and see that immediate results and a demand for goals is purely for the ignorant and ill informed. As Martin has said this is a huge test to see where his team is at before the final international break this year. I’ve got a feeling he will be happy come 5pm today, and I say that regardless of the result.

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Photographs licensed from Reuters

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