Zân is Sheehan’s man and the main reason why he still plays for Swansea City
Monday, 27th Oct 2025 16:23 by Keith Haynes

The man with the most dangerous right foot in the English Football League who has saved the Swans on numerous occasions this season could well have been plying his trade elsewhere away from Swansea City. It wasn’t necessarily a huge falling out but it didn’t sit well with Swans head coach, Alan Sheehan.

In fact he made that very clear.

First off we refer you to our exclusive information on Vipotnik through a source very close to him during the summer window in August. That’s below.

⚽️ Vip on his way ?

There is also another exclusive link to Vipotnik through his agent in that report.

We now know that Swansea City recieved numerous contacts from clubs in Europe and in the UK regards Zan’s contract and availability. He has a contract at the Swans until summer 2028. Several Eastern European clubs were pushing for an agreement, including Slovan Bratislava who secured Mykola Kukharevych from the Swans on July 1st 2025 for €860,000. Since then Mykola has scored in the Champions League and bagged five league goals for Slovan Bratislava - and has been called a ‘revelation’ in the Czech Republic.

There’s a warning there maybe ?

Especially when Zân was so frustrating to watch last year, it was agonising at times, the stats were showing those who rely on them at the club a player should cash in on.

During the ins and outs of the season certain elements involved in those dealings were pushing for the sale of Vipotnik (above) or at least for the club to talk regards this potential. Then Sporting Director, Richard Montague whose role was to manage outgoing sales as a part of his role was first to be contacted. The interest was there and tentative discussions had taken place. That was brought back to the club and the first dissenting voice was Alan Sheehan, we are told he felt this season would be a good one for Zān and he was very much in favour of keeping him.

As a collective it did take some days for a decision to be made on any transfer. In amongst all this we saw Alan Sheehan ‘cup’ his ears after a Vipotnik goal at Sheffield Wednesday away and again a wry smile as the Slovenian assisted Ronald’s well taken goal. The looks to the Swans directors area in the stand continued as Zān scored at the swansea.com. Zans form and Sheehan’s insistence the player stayed was the deciding factor when the Swans board blocked any move away and most certainly relied upon Sheehan’s intuition.

That is already paying off.

We understand the Swans were valuing Vipotnik at the time between three and four million pounds. Of course that didn’t come to pass and many a Jack will breath a sigh of relief. It’s one of those stories that you can claim hindsight to. We have already stated that Zans value must have doubled at least even after Saturday. The Swans have a gem on their hands of course, brought into the club by then Sporting Director Paul Watson there is some value in searching the lower leagues for players. Vipotnik was picked up as an out of contract player from French club Bordeaux when they advised the French FA they were no longer going to be a professional club on July 25th 2024. Literally one week later he was a Swans player. No fee was paid as Zān’s contract had been terminated, but a healthy signing on fee was agreed with a pretty average salary to play for the Swans.

Since the explosion of Vipotnik this season there’s another reason why his form is of great benefit to the Swans. His performance and danger to defences means that at last the Swans have a player who the opposition will have to be mindful of. They have a player who they are up against who they will have to take measures against. A distraction, an extra concern if you like. This concentrates the mind, and we are certain this will lead to more space and opportunity for other players to weigh in with more goals.

Hopefully January will come and go without any news on the big Slovenian.