Ashley Williams to Arsenal for 3 million?

No thanks. Even though Ashley Williams only has one year left on his contract I would still say no to anything less than 6 million pounds. Why? Because he is vital to our cause, and staying in the Premiership is worth a lot more than that.

Ashley Williams is not the sort of bloke to mope about either, particularly as he’s:-

(a) our captain

(b) a friend of our manager, Garry Monk

(c) in, as the Americans would say, his ‘contract year’. If anything, from a purely selfish point of view he’d want to have his best year ever.

Mr Wenger – “3 million for your cultured zentral defender Ashley Williams?”

Mr Jenkins – “non”

Mr Wenger – “c’est combien?”

Huw – “10 million”

Mr Wenger – “I’ll give you 6, Ryo Miyaichi and Benik Afobe”    ( https://passingpashion.wordpress.com/2014/05/26/players-we-should-sign-part-v/ )

Huw – “alright dap” 

Players We Should sign – Part V

Continuing the series of “Players We Should Sign” we once again look at the relatively cheap, but this time take a particular focus on relatively young players. Those that, if they turn out correctly, could have inflating sell-on-fees in the future and turn out to be better platers a few years down the line.

Swansea used to be very good at this, picking up the likes of Scott Sinclair, Ashley Williams, Vorm and Leon Britton from other teams and seeing them bloom, but the relative gravy train needs topping up, and here are a few possibilities that could help:-

* Federico Macheda – I don’t like to think that a player I thought would bloom on the world scale, just a few years a go, could be on his way to our domestic rivals for nothing (Manchester United having released him). Macheda is still only 22 and scored a goal-a-game for Brum last year (on loan). He has a fantastic touch, is strong and a very good shot, he would certainly make a decent number two striker to back up Wilfried Bony, who will be away at African nations alot next season.

* Conor Coady – Liverpool’s defensive midfielder finds his path to the first team completely blocked, at a very crowded Anfield, but this 21 year old kid has exceptional talents and could be the heir-apparent to Leon’s throne. Coady has never reportedly let himself down in Liverpool first-team training, but chances have been limited by the sheer size of Brendan’s squad. Coady has a sensible head on his shoulders, having captained England-U17’s to the European Championship title in May 2010. Conor Coady is a strong lad, that has the potential to be a very good central midfielder or even a central defender eventually. He’s good in the air, a strong tackler and his distribution is excellent, in keeping with our tradition. Wolves have reportedly put a £500,000-750,000 bid in, having been impressed with his perfromances on loan, at Sheffield United, last season.     

* Benik Afobe – another young British talent rotting away in a big-Premiership squad is Arsenal’s 21 year old Benik Afobe. A few years ago I’d have been able to write “young striker-sensation”, but as the years add onto the clock he’s no longer a kid and needs to be playing first-team football, something we can offer but Arsenal never will. He had his fifth loan spell this year, at Sheffield Wednesday (having previously had spells at Huddersfield, Reading, Bolton and Millwall), and was reportedly targeted by Barcelona in 2010. A six footer, he is rapid and strong and can play out wide or through the middle. If Arsenal potentially grab Michy Batshuayi from under our noses, maybe we should do the really financially-prudent thing and sign the potentially better Benik Afobe from their squad for much much less (his contract reportedly ends this year). Afobe has the potential to be better than Batshuayi, but hasn’t had the chance to prove it. Thing Scott Sinclar, but bigger and stronger and less bothered by the celebrity spotlight. 

Michy Batshuayi

The latest news, in this pleasantly busy pre-World Cup transfer speculation time, is that we are preparing a £7m bid for Belgian striker Michy Batshuayi. From what I’ve seen the near-six foot striker is a long way off Wilfried Bony’s cool, calm goal-scoring extra-ordinary talents, and nowhere near as strong, but he would offer us something different. He seems to glide around the box and has plenty of pace, plus he’s only 20 years old.

Seeing as we only made a £2.5m bid for him this looks like a bad bit of business, but if we rate the kid I suppose we should go for it, we need at least two talented strikers on the books, that was our real downfall last year.

Jordy Clasie

Just heard that we are after Feynord’s 22 year old midfielder Jordy Clasie. This kid is excellent, just what we need, strong, direct, excelelnt technique….if anything he reminds me of Ferrie Bodde, I kid you not.

Feynord wont want to lose this incredibly talented player, but if Monk really wants him I’m sure we can stretch to it.

Jordy Clasie is the kind of player we NEED to sign if we want to move forward. Even for quite a large transfer fee this kid is going to be worth it, as the sell-on fee will be huge. In 2-or-3, even next year, the big clubs will eb after this kid. I suggest we get him now, before he impresses the Dutch manager too highly and he takes him to Manchester United.

Welsh Squad to Face Dutch

The Welsh squad has been announced for our June 4th friendly with the Netherlands and it contains a few players that I am very keen to see integrated into the squad. Mainly defenders James Chester and Paul Dummett.

“They aren’t exactly household names” I hear you reply, but they are Premiership caliber players, respectively starting most of the season for Hull and Newcastle. Wales have long lacked the necessary depth to move forward, and its players like James Chester and Paul Dummett that give us that, plus both are qualified for England too so always good to get them into the squad.

Young goalkeeper Connor Roberts, 21, is also in the squad (..maybe one for the Swans to watch) as he replaced the now retired Myhill.

I’m also interested to see how Manchester United starlet Tom Lawrence gets on, because I’m hearing very good things about this kid – I guess he’ll be looking to impress his new Manchester United manager (which of course a sensational goal or two against the very talented dutch team would be sure to do).

We have two players in the squad, in Ashely Richards (where’s the “Jazz” gone) and Neil Taylor. Ben Davies and Ashley Williams pulled out through injury, as apparently they both had broken toes at the end of the season #Legends

Transer Gossip – Part I

Swansea City are close to signing various attacking midfielders, the player depends upon the source that you read:-

Jonny Williams, if you believe the Western Mail and they quote a 4 million pound price tag.

Tom Ince, if you believe the fans (was apparently seen at the club on Wednesday night….note the word “apparently”). He’s available on a free transfer.

Jack Colback, in the Mirror, they apparently wont pay his 20 thousand a week wage demands

Nathan Redmond, also in the Mirror

Of these, I personally think they’d all be good signings although personally my preference would be Redmond, although this depends on the potential cost – anything up to about eight million would be good business for him. Redmond is young, fast and has an eye for goal, he’d be a great long term addition to the squad….if we can afford him.

Quickly looking at Ince, as in many ways he is a similar player to Redmond and he wouldn’t command a transfer fee, he is an undoubted talent, but are his wage demands silly? A lot of Swansea fans were put off by his previous daliances with us, but maybe Laudrup’s lack of enthusiam scared him off. Ince would be excellent for us.

To sign off, can I also say I’d be very happy with Jonny Williams too, particularly at four million, as he is an incredibly gifted midfielder.Eventually his ideal position would be just behind the main striker, in the number-10 role. Williams is incredibly talented, but a little slight – completely unsuited to a Tony Pulis system, hence his likelihood move. I’m not sure he is ready for the Premiership yet, remember he is only 20, but at four million this kid would be an absolute steal, it wouldn’t surprise me at all if in five years he’s commanding 30-million plus moves – seriously! 

 

Ravel Morrison – risky business

So we are interested in signing Ravel Morrison, one of the most promising young attacking midfielders in the British game, sounds good so far….but then this is one of the most controversial talents British football has ever produced either. Last year Swansea were in the international footballing headlines at least twice for non-footballing related issues – fighting in training essentially – and many still talk about the likes of Leon Knight and his trouble-making antics. Interestingly Garry Monk was at the club at the time of Knight, so he’ll know how much of a problem it really was, plus of course he saw all the troubles last year (didn’t one of the issues involve him, chico and a bowl of Coco-Pops?).

Why sign Morrison – apparently we could get him for 4 million pounds, and he is incedibly talented. The sort of attacking midfielder we lack. A player with the ability to open tight defences and make goals out of nothing.

Why not – traditioanlly he’s been a problem kid, and we have a young manager

Tricky. I hope the kid has changed. We all deserve seconf chances. Here though the question is can Morrison really change. Maybe, as a smaller club we have to take the chance on such risks, as its the only way we’ll ever compete. Let me know your thoughts, and we can get the debate flowing, as this is a particularly interesting one.

Was Laudrup Right About Ben Davies

Michael Laudrup speculated that Ben Davies’ long-term best position might be centre-half, and considering the other talent (in Neil Taylor) we also have there maybe this off-season is the time to test out his capabilites regarding the switch.

Ben Davies is tall enough to be a centre-half

Ben Davies is strong enough to be a centre half

Ben Davies is decent enough at defending isn’t he, he can’t be much more of a liability than Chico was at times. I know its a tricky transition to make but I really would like to see the management give it a go, even if its just in pre-season. 

Squad Thinning Starts

The season has just finnished – a reasonable 12th place being achieved – bringing with it the annual process of adjusting the squad for the season ahead. First we get news of those players that will definitely not be here next season (personally I prefer hearing who is coming in, but this tends to be a slower process, and first we need to trim the squad back a bit), more will likely follow but ideally for a financial return. These are the players that are leaving that we get no financial return for, other than their lost wage bill:-

Leroy Lita – not a popular player here, and one that I thought might force his way back into the first team squad at one point after Garry’s initial appointment. He was rummoured to have had a few very good training sessions initially under Garry, but then didn’t show much in his couple of ten minute substitute appearances that he was given. Probably quite a good Championship striker, but not quite Premiership level, and too small to fit our one-striker up-front formation.

David Ngog – we never really got to see what this former Liverpool starlet could do, but I guess the Swansea management team saw in training and it can’t have been much. A wasted talent.

Roland Lamah – 18 month loan spell ended. He showed glimpses of being a decent goal scoring winger, but probably isn’t quite Premiership class.

Vazquez – early couple of misses destroyed his confidence, needs to start again at a lower level.

Darnel Situ – when this kid signed I was very optimisitc as he sounded like he had the potential to be very good, but injuries seems to plague his Swansea career and at least we can safely assume Garry Monk know who is and isn’t a good defender.

Oscar Sielve – the defensive midfielder had the sounds of a young Leon Britton about him but as it turns out that was just because he was short and dark haired. 

Pau Morer – Only signed in October, but must have either shown a lack of talent or perhaps the wrong attitude. When asked recently, Morer said “I really like Pozuelo … I think we play in a similar way”, as good as Pozuelo is we only need one lazy midfielder on the squad

Swans End the Season on A High

Swansea put three goals past Sunderland on Sunday, allowing Garry Monk’s men to end the season on a relative high. If I’m honest I’d have happily taken a 12th place finnish, if I’d been offered it at the beginning of the season (cue: Pharrel’s Happy song).

Its not all good news, however, as recent games have got me thinking more clearly where we look at our weakest, or at least where we might need freshening up the most, and its in the the centre of the park and out wide. I know this probably goes against what most Swansea fans think, that centre half and goalkeeper are our main needs, but personally I’m more than happy with Vorm in goal. I would, however, like a better (and younger) understudy for him.

I actually thought Kyle Bartley and Jordi Amat looked very good on Sunday, and am confident that they, along with Ashley Williams and Chico can get it done next season. Chico is my biggest concern at the back at the moment, but hopefully with a good off-season behind him, he can come back a better player next year. The problem with Chico is largely in his ‘head’, I think.

Central midfield, however, keeps getting by-passed too easily. Yes Leon Britton is a legend, and someone the middle of the park should be planned around, but I increasingly think we need an enforcer alongside him. Somebody fast and strong, dynamic and vocal…a Roy Keane, a Ferrie Bodde, someone like them. Obviously we don’t have the money to get the really well know next one of these talents, but that is where our scouting department come in. Hopefully they have someone in mind, otherwise Garry should tell Mr Jenkins he needs more depth in his backroom team and he should try and poach back Kevin Reeves – Chief Scout at Everton now (so we’d have to offer a decent package) – as it was him, I think that spotted the original Ferrie Bodde back in 2006/2007.