This week has seen some bad financial news for the Swans, and of course more questions than answers yet again. That aside there is some great news from the age grade side at U21 as once again we see a player knocking on the door of the first team squad.
The happy young man is Mitchell Bates who joined the Swans after five years at his previous club as a youth player, but he made the first team. A lifetime Swans fan too, as are his family, the future looks very bright. Swansea City. Signed from Briton Ferry Llansawel, he joined in January 2023 signing until this May 2024. Now he has a one year extension with a a one year option. Great news for the twenty year old.
Playing football for the team you support, can you beat that ?
Here is what we know about players looking for new contracts
As it stands we know of no player that is going to be released this summer. Generally they will know their fate before the end of their contracts, and the news of their release comes a few days later. Generally this list is called the ‘retained list’ Last season a whole load of academy players moved on, Andreas Sondergaard, Tivonge Rushesha and Daniel Williams, Sam Leverett, Tarrelle Whittaker, Geoffroy Bony, Corey Hurford, Jada Mawongo, David Roberts and Wasiri Williams all failed to gain recognition to continue at the club. Bony was possibly a shock as he was beginning to find the net and a few weeks before his release he scored a hatrick for the U21 side.
Of course being retained isn’t a guarantee the player won’t immediately move on. Morgan Whittaker, Joel Piroe and Michael Obafemi are examples of retained players who then left the club shortly after it was announced they had been retained. Obviously their transfers to other clubs meaning it was a no brainer to keep them on.
One player we do know that will be offered a form of deal is Jamie Paterson, at thirty two years of age he is still able to contribute at Championship level, and recently has been a top performer. He has been at the club now for three years and dependent on the terms he is offered he is keen to stay on. We expect a one year deal which will take him to summer 2025, but if he continues in his current rich vein of form there’s every chance that could be extended next time around. The issues with Joe Allen and Liam Walsh are different, both are injury prone and it’s sensible the club will offer them a verbal agreement in the first instance for them to think about. We understand that Joe knows the outline of his deal but he won’t agree to it just yet. Liam is the quandary, to offer anything is a huge risk, pay as you play with a very basic salary could well be the best he gets. Swans fans are divided on these two players, some say let them go, others wanting a low risk contract for both.
Liam Cullen and Nathan Wood have both seen their contracts triggered for one more year recently. Neither will be entirely happy, in both cases you could well file them under ‘could leave the club’ Wood especially, but Cullen, albeit on an exceptionally low salary for his age and level of football he plays is now rumoured as having something offered to him this summer. Our bet is that could happen but only if clubs start coming in for him. An example we were given this week was, if Cullen becomes of interest to a league one side their salary structure would mean he would be lucky to get more than he earns at the Swans. He would at a Championship club, Blackburn Rovers have been linked, so this is a cute move by the Swans. They really do hold the cards here. In Wood’s case they seem to want him to move on.
Cullen and Piroe, two very different striker stories
With the Swans financial issues of late - and over the past three years which have accumulated a rolling debt close to the ‘profit and sustainability’ threshold Wood seems to be the option to go with the players sold last August. These players were not included in this years return, but will be next year. That’s around fifteen million pounds as it includes numerous players including Joel Piroe. If carefully managed the Swans could show a decent turnaround here.
Our initial report in to the financial issues at the Swans is below, it also has a link to the mystery surrounding club Chairman and his appointment date at the club.
Click here —> Kieran Maguire on board
Well, that’s what we know at this moment in time, there are some other snippets but it wouldn’t be favourable on the source if they are put on here just yet. Of course your daily feed of Swans news will continue, and later a pre match report on tomorrows last game of the season against Millwall at the Swansea.com stadium (KO 3pm)