Swansea City summer suggestions

The 2022/2023 season was a season full of ups and downs from being top 6 in October to near relegation in March to finally finishing on a 9 game unbeaten run and sitting just 3 points outside of the playoff places. Many fans wanted Russell Martin to be sacked in March but the Swansea City board chose not to and i believe this was 100% the correct decision.

This summer transfer window will be one of the biggest in our championship years, many signings will be needed as our squad will be thinned even more than it already is, we are almost guaranteed to lose Ryan Manning and Kyle Naughton, Michael Obafemi will make his move to Burnley permanent this summer after gaining promotion back to the premier league, Joel Latibeaudiere is another player who is out of contract but Russell Martin says the club must do everything they can to keep Joel at the club amid interest from 5 unknown clubs.

Our squad will be very bare come July 1st having just 18 players (19 if Latibeaudiere stays) so multiple signings will 100% be necessary this summer and this is something the board has to realise.

There are many positions needing strengthening but in particular we need to sign 1/2 RB/ RWB and a GK. We’ve been linked to many right sided players notably Bryan Reynolds, Chiedozie Ogbene and Exeters Josh Key. All 3 of these players would be excellent signings but for the RB position we should focus on Reynolds and Josh Key as they are both more natural RB’s whereas Ogbene is a much more attacking player. Josh Key is 100% the man we should sign for the Right - Back position and i also think we should sign Chiedozie Ogbene for cover at Right - Back but also the ability to play on the right wing and striker he would bring some great depth and adaptability to the squad.

Now for the goalkeeper position i think there are 3 strong options , number 1 being James Trafford on loan from Manchester City, James has been very impressive on main at Bolton this season and is already attracting interest from Burnley but i believe if Bolton do not get promoted there would be a good possibility of signing him on loan. The second option would be Matija Sarkic on loan from Wolverhampton Wanderers, Matija joined Stoke City on loan in January which was cut short due to injury but was quite good during his time at the potters and i think he would help us massively. Finally the last player is someone who we linked to in January but ultimately he chose Hull over us, that player being Karl Darlow from Newcastle United he has 2 years left on his current contract but i don’t think he will be in contention for even the second spot at Newcastle so could push for another move away from the club. any 3 of these signings would be great but i believe James Trafford is the man we should focus on getting to strengthen our Goalkeeper position.

With Kyle Naughton and Ryan Manning both nearly 100% leaving the club come the end of June we will need a little bit more defensive cover and i’ve picked 2 players in their positions to cover for the loss of them. Number 1 is Ronnie Edwards from Peterborough United, the highly rated Centre - Back is only 5’11 but certainly does the job for Peterborough and is only 20 years old, this signing would be helped a lot if Peterborough don’t get promoted from League One. The second player is Hull City’s Callum Elder, Callum runs out of contract this summer at the Tigers, i think he would be a good replacement for Manning alongside Nathan Ogbeta who returns from his loan at Peterborough this summer.

One more thing the Swans have to worry about is the very likely chance of Joel Piroe leaving the club this summer the Dutchman has 52 G/A in 88 appearances for the Swans, with his contract ending at the close of the 23/24 season unfortunately the Swans may be forced to cash in this summer i believe we should demand at least £15m for the striker yes he is at the final year of his contract but he has a very good goal to game ratio and would be very good for a premier league side so we should stand our ground and hold out for the right price.

This of course means we would need a suitable replacement, My option for this would be Bristol Rovers and Welsh striker Aaron Collins, Collins has 2 years left on his current deal at Rovers valued at £900k by Transfermarkt but could cost a bit more than that, 16 goals and 12 assists in League 1 and nearing a Welsh international call up Aaron would be a great signing for the Swans.

Finally the main thing we need to get sorted before the transfer window is getting Russell Martin a new contract. Russ is out of contract next summer and is attracting major interest from Southampton who will be a championship side next season, the Swansea board must get a new contract sorted for Russ who has made it clear he wants to stay at the club for a while longer.

Thank you for reading and if you enjoyed please leave a like and a short comment on my tweet!