Swansea City want three players in this week and are working hard to achieve that objective we understand after last nights game against AFC Bournemouth. We’ve been told along with another interested party that the three players are aware of the clubs interest and one will advise Paul Watson this morning if it’s a move he wants to make.
And we also know that Keinan Davis is still of interest to the Swans.
On Davis we have been told matters were at an advanced stage on the weekend before stalling. What advanced stage means is a difficult call, but Duff has confirmed he is a player of interest. Speaking last night he said, "I think possibly every club in the league would be interested in someone like him. Whether anything happens with it, I don't know. I'm due a three or four-hour meeting with Paul tomorrow just to find out where we are. As you can imagine, the phone's been buzzing in my pocket the whole game. I'm not in a position to check my phone during the game. So I'll touch base with Paul”
It’s obvious that Duff is again playing a long game and playing his cards close to his chest. He was with Watson earlier on yesterday evening so of course the head coach is fully briefed on potential developments right up to last night. We suspect that todays meeting is to firm up the movement of the player Watson is waiting to hear from, and indeed to update Duff on the Swans bid for Stoke’s Josh Tymon. We now believe after several knock backs for loan players at centre back or left sided defenders the Swans are now throwing themselves behind an all out attempt to sign Tymon.
But not all their eggs are in the same basket.
There are so many names in the pot this morning, literally a matter of a few days before the transfer window closes - to list them all would be nonsense. Davis we know will remain on the Swans shopping list, as will Tymon. The third is anyone’s guess from at least eight potential signings. And to be honest that’s exactly what the third name would be, a complete guess. As Duff has mentioned before there are many names per position on his mind. The third most obvious player is Kristian Pedersen who we have featured before on these pages. The mystery with him as it was with Keinan Davis is clearly finance. Both players command salaries at this current time well in advance of all the players at Swansea City. The only way the club could encourage their interest further now is by offering a longer contract, in Pedersen’s case his last chance of a big payday loaded with incentives.
You could actually say the same for both Tymon and Davis as well, albeit younger they will expect top end salaries if they join Swansea City. And that’s always been the key issue for the Swans. It’s easy for us all to say there’s plenty in the tank for these types of signings but putting them on good contracts today can easily lead to issues later on. It’s clear to us the Swans want their players in, but the money safeguarded for those contracts has to be already available over the time span they are envisaged to be at the club. You can’t spend all the available money that is in the kitty now and not have securities for next season or the season after. Every player that is purchased this transfer window has to have their contracts covered for at least two years. In Pedersen’s case he will be in to his thirties by then with little saleable value.
In reality that’s sound business sense.
A player coming in at say two million pounds - and then on a basic twenty thousand pounds a week adds two million pounds or thereabouts over two years to the overall cost in wages alone. That’s four million pounds that the club has to have already secured on that one player. You don’t buy a car today not knowing if you can pay the monthly cost for its finance next year.
It’s pretty clear to us that every player that has come in to the club this summer is being evaluated in the same way. Having spoken at length to numerous agents that source some of our information (Ntcham as an example) they have told us the same thing. Clubs that don’t do that find themselves quickly in trouble. Especially one like Swansea City.
You can understand fully the concerns of the club when you look at each of the players already ‘through the door ‘ this transfer window. We expect now with Andrew Coleman due back in the fold and able to apply his business acumen to these situations, alongside Paul Watson that there will be three new signings this week. It’s just a case of who and how much, because as we’ve seen already this window, things don’t change daily, they change by the hour.