Nailed on he wasn't coming to us. Firstly he's older than 15 which reduces SRs sell on value, secondly he's never played for Man City. I think for the last bit of this window we'll be selling who we can with no/very little incomings. You guys have got to stop with the naivety around Sports Republic, they want their money back!
Hmm, Martin saying we'd get more than two new signings still has me fairly confident. Hopefully this isn't his own Ralph moment of 'we'll sign a striker' last summer.
I’m sure they do want their money back. I’m equally sure they recognise that the best way to do that is by getting promoted back to the PL.
The Athletic: Southampton tonight make second bid for Swansea City defender Nathan Wood *co-written by Swansea correspondent Stuart James and also Jacob Tanswell
I think he'd be an excellent addition. Young with lots of potential, good on the ball and don't have to rush him in (assuming we keep Bednarek).
looks a big strong boy as Dave Merrington would say. You would assume ABK is off, but you do wonder how Bednarek might react
There's 43 games still to play - Bednarek would get plenty of games. He may well continue to start while Wood acclimatises (assuming he signs).
Presumably makes playing three at the back (as he has done quite a bit before) an option for Russ as well, if he has Stephens, Bednarek and Wood. Not sure he'd fancy doing that with Lyanco...
Ideally, Bednarek reacts by paying attention to the men in different-coloured shirts that keep getting into the area uncontested. The combination of he and Stephens has been a bit...chaotic.
Did he say more than two or two? There is the Norwegian central midfielder. And a CB (looks like we are close to what Swansea want for Wood). And now links to Johnson from West Ham. So that could be 3 with none being a striker
Honest question - do you really think that the sums add up in your scenario? In that SR sell everyone they can get a decent fee for and that will balance the books by way of their purchase price, the pre-existing debt and all the fees spent to date. And even if it does net to zero or a profit - what then? You can’t sell an asset stripped club and you are then left with an “asset” with no value and likely losing value over time. As mentioned - it just isn’t how it works And connected to this - do you spend £10m on a single player if you are purely trying to balance the books? Do you bring in a premier league loan in midfield instead of just promoting someone from the youth team or buying a championship player. If this were the final years before administration we’d have sold JWP and replaced him with Doyle. Sold all the right backs and played Payne. You get the point. But that isn’t happening here There is naivety going on here. But it is coming from this bizarre assertion that Sports Republic can break even on their investment and then get out without getting us promoted. And that they’d action this by making decisions like going through a protracted compensation negotiation for a manager rather than just giving up and getting another target. Or that they’d bring in a highly related DoF from the best run club in the country rather than just keep who we had. Or a list of other things
He was asked by Alfie House around the Plymouth game whether he thought we’d make a couple of signings in the last two weeks of the window and his response was that he thinks we’ll make more than that. Depends if he was counting Downes, in which case perhaps only two more. However, I suspect we get three more in - and perhaps even four if we shift some of the backlog up top.
Kind of agree with the general sentiment, piroe looks like a very good player - seems strange that we weren’t in for him. Not least because now a promotion rival is a lot stronger than before. Maybe I am naive, but I’m still keeping faith for now. But if we end up losing Che and not bringing in a replacement I will be furious tbh
The club really should set its own deadline for outgoing transfers, say 72 hours before the actual deadline. And make it public knowledge. The players' agents have had all summer to get them a move, and they've failed. F*ck em.
Swansea fans really don't seem overly bothered to be losing Wood. And it's not just being bitter. I've looked at Forum posts dating months back, when apparently there was Prem interest, and none of their fans could understand why. Seems like he's comfortable on the ball and can play a bit, but prone to brainfarts. More or less similar to Stephens then.
