The brutal reality of what lies ahead for Swansea City
Guto Llewelyn addresses what the future holds for Swansea after they announced their retained list
Saturday 4th July 2020
“We need a few years in the Championship to rebuild” was the opinion held by many Swansea fans when Swansea were relegated from the Premier League two years ago.
It was a mature, philosophical way to look at the situation, rather than the usual desire to get straight back up at any cost and in many ways it made sense.
Take three or four years to build a young side, rediscover the club’s identity and go back up rejuvenated.
However this week, after Swansea’s play-off hopes suffered a near-fatal blow, the club published its annual retained list, making it even clearer that this widely shared rebuilding plan was seriously naïve to the realities of Championship life.
Publishing a list of retained players is something every club does around this time of year, when it’s been decided which out of contract players will be offered new deals and which ones will be let go.
Despite the fact Swansea are still working their way through the fixture list, they’ve announced theirs as normal.
These lists are usually just a formality with few big surprises and the same is true of Swansea’s this year.
The list features 26 players including everybody whose contracts did not expire this summer, along with a few new additions from the club’s youth setups, signing professional contracts for the first time.
It was announced that several out of contract players have been released but only two of them had any kind of substantial first team experience, Jefferson Montero and Courtney Baker-Richardson.
There are also five players omitted from the list whose contracts were due to expire this season but they have made short-term agreements to continue until the end of the month, making themselves available for Swansea’s final six games. However what the future holds for Mike van der Hoorn, Kyle Naughton, Wayne Routledge, Nathan Dyer and Erwin Mulder beyond July remains a mystery.
Regardless of what happens to those five players, the retained list still looks pretty bleak.
Only 16 of those players have any Championship experience.
Barrie McKay, Kristoffer Peterson and Jefferson Montero are among those sent out on loan during the course of the 2019/20 season
Four of them, Joel Asoro, Kristoffer Peterson, Declan John and Barrie McKay, were sent out on loan this season having been deemed surplus to requirements for the current campaign.
The remaining list includes some talented players but several of those names are not expected to stay.
Joe Rodon has been the subject of transfer speculation and as one of the best young defenders in the Championship, he’s one of few players on the list who could command a large transfer fee. He is the club’s prized asset and with the Swans admitting they face challenging financial circumstances, it would be a shock if they did not cash in on Rodon this summer.
The list also includes top scorer Andre Ayew, believed to be by far the highest paid player at the club. He may be one of Swansea’s best players but the club has tried to get his name off the wage list in the past and will surely try to do the same again this year.
Also on the list is Bersant Celina, one of the most talented and creative players in the squad but it seems the Kosovan does not see eye to eye with his manager. He has fallen down the pecking order and was left out of the squad entirely against Luton last week. Suspicion is brewing that he may too be destined for the door if a suitor comes along.
The retained list obviously does not include any of Swansea’s on-loan players, of whom only Marc Guéhi is contracted beyond the end of the current season.
When the on-loan players return to their parent clubs, Swansea will lose their first choice keeper in Freddie Woodman, their only established out-and-out striker in Rhian Brewster and a player who gets an assist every three games on average in Conor Gallagher.
Like I said, there were no surprises on the retained list but when you add all of this up, Swansea’s squad for next season looks pretty bare and low on options in a number of positions.
Of course no club ever starts the following season with the same squad that ended the previous one. Despite the lack of money at the club, there will be some free transfers and just like last year, loans will address a number of gaps. Cooper’s contacts will once again prove invaluable in that department.
But with so much quality set to be lost once this season ends, Swansea are looking at another big rebuild this summer. Parachute payments will be sliced again and the loss of revenue due to the coronavirus pandemic means there are still big financial constraints.
Swansea faced many struggles during their first season back in the Championship but back then the Swans had a bright young manager, they played an exciting brand of football and had a number of huge talents coming through the system.
Fans were not bothered about missing out on promotion last year because they seemed to have the perfect platform on which to build for the future. However reality hit the Swans for six.
Their impressive performances drew the attention of Premier League clubs and Swansea lost manager Graham Potter as well as Oli McBurnie and Dan James.
Financial struggles meant permanent signings were tricky last summer so their replacements had to be borrowed from other clubs. The Swans brought in talented youngsters on loan but it’s difficult to plan longer-term when so many of your players won’t be around for more than 12 months.
The rebuilding process lasted just a year before having to basically start from scratch.
Building a promotion-winning team over three or four years is a great idea in principle but it’s very tough to do in practice.
Swansea’s retained list isn’t inspiring. It’s the result of unavoidable financial cutbacks, predation by Premier League clubs and a transfer strategy largely reliant on loans.
Many fans were not that keen on going up this year. A few people have told me “we would be embarrassed if we went up this season” which is probably true but that misses the point.
It’s quite likely we needed to go up this season even if we are not ready, just to stabilise a club which is still on the slide.
After a superb start, Swansea’s form for most of this campaign has been that of a team hovering just above the relegation battle. With the inevitable loss of players this summer, it’s increasingly likely that next year we’ll be where other recently relegated Premier League sides like Stoke, Hull, Huddersfield and Middlesbrough are right now.
Rebuilding over several seasons is the way it should be done but for a club with Swansea’s problems that’s seriously difficult.
The Swans will probably miss out on this season’s play-offs and that’s unsurprising considering their form for most of the campaign has been mediocre at best. However it still represents a missed opportunity because next season’s Swansea squad will probably be weaker than the one they currently have and even the most timid of play-off pushes will be tough to achieve.
The Swans better start planning for next season now, because it’s likely to be another tricky summer for Swansea City.
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