Today's Western Mail reports that Jonathan De Guzman could almost find himself without a club for the new season with tomorrow's friendly opponents Villarreal not wanting the Dutchman for the new season and no deal in place for him to return to the Swans where he has been so successful for the past two years.
I would go as far as to say that I would assume a deal to bring De Guzman here should be viewed as essential for the club. We know him, he knows us and we know what he is capable of producing. There are times when he is frustrating to watch but his goal and assist tally over his two years here say much about his ability and it is not as if you find goal scoring midfielders on every corner especially at this level of football.
If you had asked me back in May what would have happened to De Guzman I would probably have guessed that he would be a Swansea player before the World Cup started not that we would be one week away from the season starting without his name on our squad listing for the new season.
This could of course just be a game of hardball between two sides with Villarreal clearly wanting some kind of transfer fee for the player whilst I suspect that the Swans were probably hoping for a third successive loan season to avoid paying the transfer fee.
Of course the latter of those two scenarios could still happen with the Spanish side unlikely to want to retain JDG on their books if they cannot move him on for a fee at which point the Swans could step in and snap up the player for just the cost of his wages over the next 12 months.
To my knowledge no fee has been mentioned to make the deal a permanent one although £5m has been rumoured and there is little doubt in my mind that there have been discussions behind the scenes to bring De Guzman back to South Wales but for now that deal is not happening.
It has also been suggested that De Guzman has had offers to ply his trade elsewhere next season although again nothing concrete appears to be happening on that front but if the rumoured fee of £5m is true then for me it becomes a no brainer and we should be looking to bring him back into a team that he knows so well.
We know that we are short in the midfield department following some of the summer departures and De Guzman will weigh in with his fair share of goals as we have seen over the last two years. It is rare to consider a signing when you know exactly how he fits in but that is what we have here and I have to say we need to make it happen to strengthen the squad that we have available.
With the Spanish side in the city maybe things will progress over the next few days but I would be disappointed to see JDG end up elsewhere and particularly more so if it was elsewhere in the Premier League and I cannot believe his performances for us have gone unnoticed over the last couple of years.
One for the definite list if we can please.
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