There is nearly 1500 miles between Madrid and Swansea but the connection between the land of the setting sun and Wales finest city is getting closer and closer. Spain currently has 17 regional areas but it seems like the city of Swansea is on the way to becoming number 18! The Swans signing of Jordi Amat last week meant that the number of Spanish players at the club grew to 5. There is the possibility that this number will grow to 6 this week with the signing Alejandro Pozuelo who is expected to join his countrymen at the Liberty Stadium ahead of the new 2013-14 season. If you added to this number the players that have arrived from Spanish clubs then you would already be at 8 players and with the clubâs management knowing the Spanish market well, there is no doubt this could grow even further. There is no doubt that Michu captured the mediaâs attention last year and his 22 goals for â¬2m fee proved to be the bargain of the year and probably the century. Seeing Swansea get such value from Spain has encouraged other clubs to go after Spanish players with Liverpool (surprise surprise) spending big on Iago Aspas and Luis Alberto hoping they will get the same amount of goals this year. Itâs worth noting however that Michu wasnât the only Spanish success story at Swansea City last year. The SCFC2 community were asked which other signing (after that man Michu!) made the most impact at the club last season and 16 out of the 18 fans said that Chico Flores was that man. The pony tailed Cadiz born defender has quickly found his way into the Swans fan hearts through his committed approach and love of the term âyou jack bastardâ! Chicoâs defensive links with Angel Rangel (another fantastic Spaniard who has made Swansea his home) was one of the key reasons why Swansea were defensively solid last season and the signing of Amat could make it 3 out of 4 in the Swans defence next year. Whilst Swansea has beauty as a city and a fan base that adores its players, there is no doubt that it doesnât have the same weather as Spain and many would suggest that the cultures are quite different too! So why do so many Spanish players settle in well at the club and why have the Swans gone so heavily into buying players from there? Here are 5 of the key reasons. Reason 1 â The club is well known now in Spain The appointment of Michael Laudrup, the Capital Cup win, Michuâs exploits in his first season and the amount of Spanish players we already have, will have helped to make Swansea City a well known club in Spain. Spanish players now know who Swansea City are and know about our style of play and as Jordi Amat said in an interview yesterday âin Spain, Swansea are very famous nowâ. As more Spanish players join the club (especially those who are well known in Spain such as Michu and Pablo Hernandez) itâs likely that this fame will encourage more La Liga players to look to the nicest area of South Wales as a destination to ply their trade. Reason 2 â Players are able settle in quickly and their mentality is right Having 5 or 6 other same nationality players (with their accompanying wives, family and friends) already at a club makes a huge difference for someone coming over that is new to the UK. Being able to have help in your own language, meet and chat about home, share your own culture and build your own âex patâ community is key to anyone succeeding in a job overseas. Being happy and successful in any job is down to how happy you are in your personal/home life and so with the players able to settle into the area easily, there are able to show how happy they are by delivering great performances out on the pitch. Spanish players also tend to have a different mentality about them compared to some British based players. The Spanish culture is to have a couple of glasses of wine with dinner, not to go out 2 nights a week and have 15 bottles of lager and so having players who look after themselves is a big reason for the club to continue to invest in Spanish players. Reason 3 â Players technical ability and the Swansea style of play There is no doubt that the style of play that the Swans have (a passing style that has been nicknamed Swansealona by many) will be another big attraction for the players. Spain are the number 1 international side in the world and this success has been based on a passing game with every player feeling comfortable on the ball. In Spain, technical ability is more important than size and strength and the Swans share this philosophy and base their whole club development on players of all ages being able to pass and move. If youâre a Spanish player brought up on this style and the opportunity arises to play in the Premier League, the choice of âpass and moveâ or âlump it up fieldâ is an easy one to make. Play for Swansea and play a passing game or play for West Ham and get a sore neck watching the ball fly high above the pitch?? Reason 4 â Transfer Fees and Wage Expectations If you combine reasons 1, 2 and 3 with the ability to earn 4 times what they currently earn then itâs easy to see why Spanish players are keen to make the move to Swansea. Very good Spanish players who play for top 10 La Liga teams donât earn a huge amount of money in Spain. There is not the same amount of money dished around to clubs in the way its distributed in the Premiership and so clubs like Real Betis and Real Vallecano canât play players the money that Premier League clubs can. This means that the expectation of the players is in line with what Swansea as a club can afford which means both sides are happy. The transfer fees for the players that donât come from Barcelona and Real Madrid are also realistic as the recent signings of Michu, Chico and Canas show. Reason 5 âSize of the City and Type of Club Swansea are very similar to a range of top 10 spanish clubs bar Barca and Real. Whilst the top 2 have 80,000+ fans coming to their games, other clubs tend to get gates of between 20-30,000 and the cities in which these clubs are based are very similar in size to Swansea. This similarity allows the players to settle into the club and as the fan bases for many of these clubs tend to be quite similar to that of the Swans, the players know that if they can deliver on the pitch then they will be worshipped and adored by the Swansea public. Having your name being sung by 20,000 passionate Jacks is always good for a players confidence!! So, with a new season nearly open us, the Spanish contingent at Swansea City has grown once again. The Jacks will be looking forward to seeing Jose Canas, Jordi Amat and hopefully Alejandro Pozuelo line up alongside Angel Rangel, Chico Flores, Pablo Hernandez and the marvellous Michu as the club embarks on their 3rd Premier League and their first Europa League campaign. Whilst the club is always keen to bring the best local talent through and maintain a Welsh/GB spine within the team, there is no doubt that we COULD soon see an all-Spanish Swansea City 11 one day! If this does happen then maybe we could confirm the city and surrounding area of Swansea as the 18th regional community of Spain. Many would prefer this than being linked to Cardiff and it might encourage the Sun gods to give us the same weather! Buena suerte a los jugadores por una temporada más exitosa en la Premier League! Adiós amigos JIM WHITE I enjoyed this so much, I thought I'de pull it from SCFC2............................
Cheers Musty, a lot of goodwill on here tonight, lets hope that striker deal follows!......................
Isnt it because Swansea is the home of the rissoll ?? We also have Joe's ice cream and Rossi's chip shop which are massive attractions for Spanish players these days, there is also a lot of lazy service in Swansea which reminds the Spanish boys a lot of back home, that layed back style when you wait ages for your drink or food is well replicated here in Swansea. There is an abundance of pound stores too, making the wages streach that much further, you can get a lot of things in these stores when you spend 25k in there(in fact I think you actually buy the store but could be wrong) So there is a lot of positive aspects of life here, the beach when it rains always looks fantastic as there are no people on them walking their dogs,which means the beaches are **** free for a while, there are also no chavs with tee shirts tucked into their baggy scrfuffy shell suit bottoms exposing tattoo's that were clearly drawn by a 9yr old ! There really are too many positives to mention
We also have some good ***ots/ Peas in Swansea Markets, and you cant go past a good Welsh cake with a cup of coffee I could go a few Welsh cakes right now .Then tues some Rissoles and Chips From Rossi's
It's bad enough going on about Rissole's, now you go on about ***ots from Swansea market. Oh the punishment!!!! I'm salivating.
