Who is Nathan Tjoe-A-On and what could he bring to Swansea City ?
Monday, 7th Aug 2023 07:00 by Keith Haynes

Nathan Tjoe-A-On Is currently playing for Excelsior in the Dutch Eredivise. Starting his career at VV Nieuwerkerk the twenty one year old has progressed to be a familiar name in the Red-Blacks side over the last year.

He needs to work on his pass completion rate if he is to satisfy the need for a left back with one pass in four going astray. However he has made the step up to first team competitive football, and has held his own defensively against the big guns in the league. There has been some criticism of the player with regards to his tackling ability and strength at certain set plays. During his twenty nine games for Excelsior he didn’t pick up any cautions at all. And for a defender that’s worthy of delving deeper in to.

It has been remarked that his anticipation off the ball and ability to read the game is at times ‘exceptional’ with an astute awareness of his own team mates abilities. This leads to him being able to assist in around three clearances a game - and then become involved in areas where he can make a difference.

Where Nathan Tjoe-A-On succeeds is movement with the ball and getting in to advanced positions. Some reference this as wing back play but his all round durability to play across the defence is similar to that of Ryan Manning now at Southampton. He is considered a serious threat with his crossing ability, unfortunately there is plenty of room for fine tuning with only twenty eight per cent of those crosses leading to threatening positions. Last season he contributed one assist in his twenty nine games.

Around half of his attempts to get forwards in what is described as ‘dribbles’ fail, or you could say are positive. Fifteen of his crosses were successful to his own player last season out of fifty three, again room for improvement. Maxime Aglago Awoudja, a natural centre back at Excelsior when compared to Tjoe-A-On displays the type of player you really do need for Tjoe-A-On to be a successful attacking defender. Maxime contributes hugely in general defensive duties in his natural position to enable Tjoe-A-On to get forwards quickly and in around fifty per cent of the time effectively. The Swans have two naturally gifted centre backs in Nathan Wood and Ben Cabango who can also play a similar game with effective rewards. The choice of Tjoe-A-On may well be as much about what others around him can do to allow him to be a more attacking outlet than what he can do to reach the same conclusions.

The fee offered won’t be startling by any stretch of the imagination and again displays that the recruitment team are managing the expectations of the head coach, but also to balance the financial outlay of the club to retain an equilibrium. This offer will turn the head of Tjoe-A-On, and we have been told he is interested in discussing matters further. However, he won’t be placed on a big contract if a bid is successful. The Swans have carefully planned a reduction in their wage bill over the last eighteen months. This has lowered the overall outlay with minimal impact on the clubs coffers which in turn allows a more sustainable club in the longer term.

That of course is why a player at Excelsior with limited experience is of interest to Swans Sporting Director Paul Watson. There is enough in the players ability to attempt to get the player for a reduced fee based on his contract running out next summer. And then if the gamble pays off the clubs ‘player trading model’ can kick in and illustrate an effective return for low initial outlay.

From little acorns of course, but an effective and more game ready player is what the Swans need, especially with the amount of tough and uncompromising right sided players that feature in the Championship.