Safety getting closer

The 1-0 victory over Aston Villa put us ever closer to safety – I honestly think we ARE SAFE now, which is a huge relief obviously and now we can almost start planning for next season.

What we can confirm from this season is that the recent space of 5 million pound mid-20 year old footballer signings isn’t working. Whoever is the scout, or responsible for Eder, Tabanou, etc, has to go. The previous policy of signing young stars that couldn’t quite break into big Premiership squads, like Chelsea, was better – a la Scott Sinclair – we need to build on our solid foundations, let the dead wood go and sign exciting young talent as they are released by the Premiership’s big boys….and where are all the young Welsh kids from the academy we were promised?

Kristoffer Nordfeldt, new Swansea keeper

Swansea City have signed the 26-year old Swedish international keeper, Kristoffer Nordfeldt, to provide competition for current Swansea City number one Lukasz Fabianski. Capped 5 times by Sweden, no small feet, the 6’3″ stopper is a significant upgrade from recently released backup s Dai Cornell and Tremmel.

Barcelona youngster, Guillermo Lara, is alos being linked with a move to the club.

Ayew Signs

So there we have it, 25 year old Andrew Ayew has signed for Swansea City, on a four year deal. Of course he’ll be on a fairly big wage, but as there was no transfer fee involved this looks like a great move.

Former African footballer of the year, has 62 caps for Ghana, and scored 52 goals in 181 appearances for Marseille….this for a 25 year old.

Very strong, with a good touch and excellent in the air, I am very excited about seeing how Garry Monk plans to fit him in an already very talent Swansea City attack. This doesn’t have to spell less games for Gomis though, as Ayew really looks his best working off the main striker.

Lets be Franck

Franck Tabanou, the 26 year old French left-back has singed for roughly 3.6 million pounds, a very good deal for a player I’ve studied quite a lot – we nearly signed him, or tried to sign him last year, but Saint-Etienne held out until now.

Tabanou is a really attacking, strong player, that could either provide great competition for Neil Taylor or another attacking option on the left, all the same he is a talent and we need talented players to cement our Premier League future.

(on another note, Andre Ayew, the lad I told you yesterday we are interested in signing, is now in talks with the club according to http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/33071470 ….. and here’s a nice little nugget, apparently he’s a former African footballer of the year, how times have change, little Swansea city are potentially signing a former African footballer of the year, I remember when I got excited that we signed a former Newcastle United player in Joe Allon all those years ago and he’s only played a few times for them).

Andre 2015

The latest player Swansea City are being linked with is Ghanaian international striker Andre Ayew, and these are heavy rumors not imaginary sightings down Rossi’s chippy. Andre Ayew is a big strong centre forward, great in the air, with a genuine eye-for-goal and at just 25 years old would be an excellent addition to the squad.

Personally I wouldn’t say Ayew is as good as Gomis, so if we are going to play just one striker it’d have to be Gomis, but its a long season and you really do need two quality strikers and Ayew is a genuine quality striker.

Interesting fact – he’s Abedi Pele’s son

Maxim-um impact

Alexandru Maxim is the latest player to be linked with a move to the Swans. Stuttgart’s Romanian midfielder offers a nice bit of creativity and at just 24 would be one to help up solidify our long-term Premiership future.

He’s an entertainer, not unlike a wild mutation of Jonjo Shelvy and Gylfi Sigurdsson, he has a beautiful touch, the ball sticks to his boots and he’s a nice grace about the way he plays….trust me he has Swansea City legend written all over him, a signing we’d definitely all appreciate.

Neil Taylor commits to 4 more years

We got some very good news with reports that left-back Neil Taylor has signed a new four-year deal at Swansea, solidifying Garry Monk’s plans for next season. True Neil Taylor has looked a little shaky in recent seasons, but the lad has the talent to play at this level and I must admit I am very happy he has singed.

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/swansea-citys-neil-taylor-one-8524509

Taylor is great going forward and has the pace to deal with fast wingers, my main concern last year was that he tended to dive into the challenge a little too much but hopefully he can calm that sentiment and concentrate on becoming a better defender for us and Wales.

http://www.thisisanfield.com/2015/03/liverpool-monitoring-swansea-left-back-neil-taylor-report/

I’d still like us to bring in some competition, but let all take a minute to raise a glass Neil Taylor signing another deal – cheers Neil.

Adios Amigos

The first wave of Swansea cuts is in, and I must admit my heart is very sad to see Swansea legend Alan Tate was one of them – but like an old dog that no longer enjoys his walks its almost sad keeping him going – others shown the exit sign on the Liberty stadium include Gerhard Tremmel, Rory Donnelly, Curtis Obeng, Giancarlo Gallifuoco, Scott Tannock, Joseph Jones, Kurtis March, Corey Francis, Tom Atyeo, David Cornell and Gareth Owen.

So my earlier piece suggesting we need a new keeper was true – https://passingpashion.wordpress.com/2015/05/26/owain-fon-williams/

With all these exits we now have to start speculating as to who might be arriving, and I heard today that we are being linked with Dutch winger Ola John. This Benfica winger looks like a decent prospect, strong, decent crosser, etc, but lets face it at this point its all speculation ……

Owain Fon Williams ???

I am in no way suggesting that the excellent Fabianski loses his place between the sticks but we need a capable backup and, with the exception of two years ago, Gerhard Tremmel has looked more than a little shaky recently. Now why would Owain Fon Williams, a keeper Tranmere have just released, be any better?

http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/32882386

Maybe its my heart speaking more loudly than my head but I’ve always been impressed with the 6’4″ goalkeeper…..my heart liking the fact that he’s Welsh (sorry), plus he’s still only 28 year old, relatively young for a keeper. He’s good on crosses, a good shot-stopper, to be hoenst I really can’t understand why Tranmere are releasing him (maybe their finances aren’t so pretty, let me know if you know).

Excellent season ends for Swans

Another excellent season has ended for us, and although we narrowly missed out on European football we should all be celebrating a further cementation (word?) of our Premiership past/present/future. The signings of Fabianski, Kyle Naughton, Jack Cork, Monetro and Gomis all really impressed by seasons end, not a sentiment I (and many) thought at the beginning.

Monk and his team have a realy excellent eye for a player and with a few careful acquisitions this offseason I am very confident we can/will do well in 2015/2016.

What we need:

(1) keep what we have, very little trimming needs to be done to the squad Monk inherited one year on. Personally I’d like to see Tremmel and a few of the less impressive youngster leave.

(2) bring in a good young left-back to compete with Taylor

(3) bring in another young winger, ideally a cheap developmental project

(4) bring in a young striker, either one good enough to start now (e.g. Danny Ings) or a developmental project

(5) bring in a younger, more promising, back up goalkeeper, ideally from one of the big clubs squads as they are often talented enough but painfully short of chances to impress

None of this needs to cost a lot of money, instead we can focus on improving the squad and giving Garry his kind of players…..as a long shot I’d also like to see Michu get another chance (come on Garry, give the kid a go he’s a maverick, i’m sure he didn’t mean whatever he said/did, we all deserve second/third/fourth chances don’t we?)