His name has come up time and time again, and each time the answer is ‘No firm bids’ have been made. After a dramatically good start to his football career he found life and playing football hard to combine. And the minute he does, and just after one season in the championship there’s a desire to put it all on the line again.

That player is Joel Piroe.

Much has been written about Joel over the past season, but his key advisor and best friend is his father, and that is crucially where he will take his advice from during the run up to the season in two weeks time. It really has to be said now, there’s so much rumour and speculation regards Joel Piroe you have to wonder about the timing and the validity of that transfer gossip. It’s easily started, and one dropped word in a conversation starts the ball rolling. We heard nothing about Joel whilst Flynn Downes moved to West Ham United, that news wasn’t needed. However as soon as Downes was gone the attention turned to Swansea City’s prized asset.

It was and is a very ‘subtle by line’ in to the fact that if the right offer arrives Joel Piroe will leave the club. That secondary look at a news story is the concern. We have said this before that the twenty million pounds bounty on Piroe’s head isn’t enough, it doesn’t show a commitment to keeping him. But what it does is illustrate that despite the price, he is for sale, and maybe for not so much as twenty million, that but there is leeway. It tells every club interested there is some bargaining to be done, and before you know it that twenty becomes fifteen.

And oh the add ons. Those wonderful deal clinchers that rarely come about whilst a player is at a club, appearances, goals, international recognition and the like. You have to be some player to unlock those clauses for your old club to realise that’s for sure. Those agreed sell on fee’s work much better, but still come with potential issues.

Joel Piroe has had one decent season in the championship, that’s a fact. And now we hear there are mumblings that he wouldn’t turn down any offer from a premier league club. And we know that’s the case for Swansea City, they’ve already confirmed it. That tells us regardless of his past up until now that one season with the swans, and yes it was superb, is something he wants to build on.

Elsewhere.

What has Joel Piroe got to lose ? Well it isn’t money that’s for certain. Any premier league move would see him elevated in to the fifty grand plus a week bracket. That’s around two and a half million pounds a year, and on at least a three or even a four year contract. That is the average in the premier league for a transfer this past year we are told. The money will be the key, the club second, and in third place, the afterthought, that’s the opportunity to succeed. Once security is gained, a mid table football future is secondary, and then as we said - then comes the success. But what happens if Joel Piroe is a flop ?

He didn’t pull up any trees at PSV or at Sparta in the Netherlands. Have a look at our breaking story last season.

Click here –> Joel Piroe Breaking News

Any progression in his mentality ( hard at first for him ) and physical attributes can certainly be put down to Russell Martin and the training regime at Swansea. Like Flynn Downes it doesn’t just happen by chance, ask Michael Obafemi. Not the punter analysing Swansea City over the past five minutes of a friendly fixture in thirty degrees of heat. The risks are always there in any transfer deal, the biggest risk though is that of the majority owners of Swansea City AFC. They may see it, they may well not.There are two weeks to run until the first game of the season. Piroe has been included in everything the swans have done and been involved in since the players returned to pre season. If he left he would have to be replaced quickly, and there’s the issue straight away, any player brought in would cost twice as much due to the swans desperation.

We are certain Russell Martin has his targets lined up, and back up plans for the inevitable transfer of Joel Piroe, whenever that may be. He will be hoping that it’s long term but we cannot dismiss the timing from the immediate cash the club can make from his sale. However, those first five games, or even if Piroe went in August the ‘next five games’ would be seriously affected. There would be a scramble for players, a deadline day fist fight for the best of the ‘rest’

We’ve seen that so many times.

Regardless of what happens next the timing will be awful, the winners will be Joel Piroe and the majority owners, and that’s only from a financial viewpoint. The losers could well be Swansea City and of course again, Joel Piroe. He won’t get the grace he was given at Swansea in the premier league. Before you know it he could easily be a forgotten second string buy with one season to reflect back on as he gets older. Flynn Downes is in a far more superior position, he isn’t assessed by his goals, just by his ability to play a certain role. Okay Piroe is similar but he will have a brighter spotlight upon him, his job is hitting the back of the net. He doesn’t fit the all round striker cliche’ in fact he isn’t really a striker despite what some may think. Fans will want an immediate return on their clubs investment. But they won’t get it from brave headers or fox in the box like ability.

It’s all well and good knocking them in against Peterborough United for the swans, recovering from a battering at Anfield and being the focus to score goals against Manchester City is a completely different set of scenarios. Swans fans can only hope that the vultures from above assess Joel Piroe properly, and decide upon a more watching brief as the coming season moves on. In a white shirt. Risky but possibly more of an intelligent strategy.

It’s a win win financially for him and the swans majority owners, and a lose lose for the fans of the club. With Downes gone already it would be a serious blow to any hope of an exciting season and could spell disaster for Swansea City. You can’t take away the best ingredients from a recipe and hope the overall taste won’t be affected. It will be, and any new ingredients sometimes take time for your pallet to adjust to.

That’s a fact if life, and of course the timing of everything is crucial as well, and this really isnt the right time for followers of Swansea City. But then of course when did the clubs followers ever really matter when millions can be made ?

In that scenario, timing is nothing.

Photographs licensed from Reuters

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