Swansea City travel to Leicester City this week for a game on Saturday (3pm) Head coach, Vitor Matos will be encouraged with the Bank Holiday 2-2 draw at home to Middlesbrough despite a mixed fan reaction to the result.

That mixed reaction surely requires some fans to take stock of the Swans current Championship situation. Within profit and sustainability after another season of adding quality to the squad is a noticeable improvement over the past twelve months. It cannot be argued against that Ethan Galbraith (below) Marko Stamenić and Melker Widell have been stand out signings (some will disagree) with Stamenic and Widell adding a different dynamic to the eleven on the pitch throughout the season. This isn’t a player profile so we will leave those three where they are. Zeidane Inoussa was another exciting signing back last summer. He has had a difficult time. His explosive pace causing issues for the opposition at times, but nowhere near enough. However, we do know that he felt his non selection by Alan Sheehan was frustrating for him. You could say the same of Matos but now having spent fourteen league games injured it is quite clear we haven’t seen the best of the player.

He is now back in training. Josh Key may be okay in three weeks or so too.

Adam Idah (below) is another who receives some stick at times for his lack of work rate and attention to cutting off space and charging down the goalkeeper. We see this a lot though, and with Zān Vipotnik, always just a micro second away from taking the ball off the keeper. That extra effort is seemingly always missing. We have of course seen Idah at his best especially at Sheffield United recently. That’s the Adam Idah we want to see more consistently. He has a ‘lazy jog’ which doesn’t do him any favours. But he is another who is better than we have had for a few years. Cameron Burgess came to the Swans as a quality player in many opinions. For him to be a ball playing centre back was quickly seen as really not a part of his game. In the air he does excel but at times his awareness in his own area is lacking.

Those players really, Galbraith, Widell, Stamenić, Burgess, Inoussa and Idah are all good signings, but as a collective are they being seen as a part of a side that can press on next season for promotion ? It’s a hard call but based on what we have seen this time around, possibly not. However, the club see all of these signings, and they include Bobby Wales too as a part of a rebuild that could easily run into two seasons, maybe more. The same could be said for Eom and Franco but Ronald is most certainly going backwards as it stands despite his ever improving defensive commitment.

We started this season with a lot of hope but that hasn’t really gone to plan, the only question is can the Swans make an impression next season ? You would still expect Zān Vipotnik and / or Ethan Galbraith to leave this summer. That would bring in around thirty million pounds which would be seen as a success financially but next season would be easier to negotiate with them. We have no issues that a lot of the cash would be reinvested in four or five year contracts over time again this summer. Much of that relies on the ability of recruitment specialist, Adam Worth assisted by CEO, Tom Gorringe and any additions which may occur between now and the summer. There are scouts in position as we are aware but it’s a small operation.

Gorringe at Bristol City away this season with Vitor Matos before his appointment

The other recruitment strategy that needs reflecting upon has to be the loan market. Gustavo Nunes is another who hasn’t had a lot of appearances, he is on loan from Brentford. Malick Yalcouyé is another on loan from Brighton, he has featured all season but for many nowhere near enough. These two we could say have been a slight success. However, Kaelan Casey who was signed from West Ham as defensive cover rarely got a look in, so he went back to his parent club but went straight out to Luton Town in League One in January. Manuel Benson was a gamble, he just couldn’t get over his issues with his previous injuries mentally and presented the Swans with issues which had they known would have deterred them from signing him. Ishé Samuels-Smith seems to have gone forgotten as a Chelsea player who some rated as a star player last season and especially this. Remarkably he signed permanently for Strasbourg last summer but within four weeks was back at Chelsea in what was described as a ‘reverse transfer’ …

Chelsea and Strasbourg are allowed to sell players to each other despite being in the same multi-club ownership portfolio. In June 2023, the Ligue 1 club was bought by BlueCo, a consortium headed by American businessman Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali for £65m.1 Sept 2025 Both clubs have been managed by Liam Rosenior.

Ishé has evaded any calls for his inclusion due to two factors, one being the fact nobody has had a good look at him to call for his inclusion, and of course the form of Josh Tymon. The loans have most certainly been hit and miss in a hit and miss season. Yalcouyé for us comes out as the best move by Adam Worth but with the good comes the bad with Benson, we do though finish off with a bit of good news.

We have been told that Filip Lissah (above) is very much on the radar now to be selected on the 2026/27 Swansea City squad. His rise this season on loan at Falkirk has been beyond expectation but with that comes news of the futures of Kyrell Wilson, Cameron Congreve and Joel Cotterill. That we hear will be a discussion come the end of this campaign. Congreve we think may well make the squad but it could be another season of question marks for Cotterill and Wilson. Thats just opinion but others think the same.

And then there’s another Filip Lissah question, will he go to the USA with the Czech Republic ? It’s worth asking the question. His rise to date has been simply breathtaking. We were more than happy to accept the plaudits for breaking his international call up a good few weeks before it happened. So, can it be two lots of international good news in one season ? It’s just a question …

⚽️ Leicester City info
On Saturday, Sam Allison will be assisted by Andrew Fox and Mark Stevens, while Declan Bourne is the fourth official. He has an up and down profile when officiating the Swans.h
REFEREE SAM ALLISON AWAY SWANS RECORD:
Has refereed the Swans 4 times away
Swans Won 1 Drawn 0 Lost 3
For 3 Against 5
Yellow cards: Swans 8 Opposition 4
Red cards:    Swans 0 Opposition 0 
@GwynStatto

Vitor Leicester pre match

⚽️ Click for info

It has saved lives.

Photographs already credited