The transfer deadline ended with two signings bringing the total to three transfers in at the Swans. Even the Swans will admit they had numerous players they wanted in this January. As expected the expectations were high at the start of the month and then levelled out at the end.
Players were lost due to the clubs current league position (Source head coach, Luke Williams) There has also been inflated transfer fees and in one instance an unwillingness to agree to the salary requested by the player. The offer of £720,000 was insufficient to get Romaine Mundle from Standard Liege. He eventually signed for Sunderland for £2,000,000. He was a key player to sign this January. The Swans had to look elsewhere and they landed on nineteen year old, Charles Sagoe Jr. He is the Swans sixth loan signing of the season meaning only five of those players can be included in the match day squad. He will stay until the season ends. The first thing that strikes you about this young man is that he is intelligent, and conversationally he is clear and obviously a well educated person.
The Swans unwilling to be continually knocked back went in search of more pace and late in the day they signed, Przemysław Płacheta from Norwich City. The Swans haven’t loaned the player, they have managed to take over his contract until the summer. That will mean the Polish-man will need to impress or he will become a free agent in after the end of May. He has played sixteen times in the league for the Canaries this season, last season he was badly injured whilst on loan at Birmingham after four weeks. John Eustace, then Blues manager described the injury as a major blow and very bad news. He referenced Placheta has having a major impact for the brief time he was there. He has had several hamstring issues, foot injuries and general time out from the game in rehab. Yesterday he went through his medical, but due to his injury history it was prolonged. The deal was only officially completed with four hours of the window left. Placheta has clocked nearly twenty one miles an hour in this seasons speed tests.
Placheta interview below.
Possibly the most compelling signing was that of Ronald Pereira Martins. He has been on loan at CF Estrela Amadora SAD, now in the top league of Portuguese football for eighteen months from GE Anápolis. Concerns were that Ronald would have a variety of owner / agents, however the Swans successfully negotiated the deal. He signed for around £1,200,000 and made his debut against Leicester City away on Tuesday night. You have to congratulate the Swans for making this happen, it was a long road. Some have mentioned the data driven aspect of this signing. That doesn’t just include his playing stats, there’s his personality, commitment and background to also consider.That falls on Paul Watson and his recruitment team. He has been playing top level football for Estrela Amadora SAD this season. Before signing he played seventeen games in Liga Portugal with a goal and two assists. He is an impact player, if you look at his games this season you will see a player who draws attention away from his team mates, and much of what he does is at pace using his strength. Many of his teams goals this season have come from Ronald contributing to the move. He is an exciting prospect. He signed until the summer of 2027.
Kristian Pedersen turned down last minute loan deals yesterday, Schalke 04 being one. However Sheffield Wednesday manager Danny Rohl knows the player, and he is very well known to his assistant Henrik Pedersen. He signed Kristian for Danish club Koge, and Henrick Pedersen was assistant manager at Union Berlin when Kristian signed for the German club. That fact was crucial for Pedersen to leave the Swans.
There’s plenty of other news but here’s a run down on those players who left this window.
1. Brandon Cooper, already on loan at Leyton Orient was recalled in mid January, which we now know was to take care of personal things to make the move to Brisbane Road. A fee was involved, speculation ranged from £50,000 to around £80,000. Add ons, etc, who knows ?
2. Harry Jones recently signed a new contract extension to 2025. For the remainder of this season he will play on loan at Weymouth in the National League South.
3. Nathanael Ogbeta, another loan out until the end of the season to Bolton Wanderers this time. He introduced himself to the fans coming on as a substitute last weekend against Carlisle. He scored after being on the pitch for two minutes.
4. Nathan Tjoe-A-On, he has left the Swans to complete the season at Heerenveen in the Netherlands. Never had a look in since he signed last summer.
Well, that’s about it. It’s pretty pointless talking about the ability or otherwise of these signings overall, or who sourced or approved them. The players the Swans wanted were not all available, or didn’t want to come to the deep west. To an extent a couple of these signings this month are as a result of knock backs.
We hope you enjoyed the journey.