Swansea City are in a mess. The club befuddled many with their transfer policy in the summer and the sad part is that they were befuddled as well. Which has now been proven.
Transferring out all their strong options and spending a bomb on two Spanish strikers who were unlikely to be instant successes or even in the long term were extremely unlikely to thrive in a team like Swansea City, who were expected to be on the backfoot in most matches and who would obviously have saving relegation as their first priority.
They let Ashley Williams leave to Everton and while the player could not be blamed for been lured to a better club with better prospects, it was imperative that Swansea signed a replacement for him. The player was synonymous with the Swans. He was integral to their success and a talismanic leader to say the least. His passion and commitment in matches shone through and he lifted his players out of the mire, many a time.
They have sorely lacked a leader at the back or anywhere on the pitch for that matter. With the strikers devoid of any service and messing up whatever chances they get, it has been a sorry tale. The midfield has been brittle and that has led to the defenders being put under direct pressure from the opposition attackers and they have wilted badly.
The likes of Jordi Amat, Alfie Mawson, Fernandez and Van Der Hoorn have not been able to step up. They have been error-prone and lacked the quality needed to thrive in the top flight.
After Francesco Guidolin and Bob Bradley’s expulsions, the daunting task has fallen on the shoulders of former Bayern Munich assistant coach, Paul Clement.
He has earmarked defence as an area which needs strengthening and he has reiterated that he intends to use his contacts at all the important clubs he has worked in to aid his process of scouting for players.
And the report also states the manager mentioning Bayern Munich’s Holger Badstuber as a possible addition to the ranks at Swansea City.
“I haven’t decided on centre-backs here, but you can take Badstuber as an example, a German national team player who has come through the ranks at Bayern.
“He’s not playing so much at the moment because Javi Martinez, Jerome Boateng and Mats Hummels are all ahead of him.”
Badstuber is a homegrown product of the Bavarian club and made his first-team debut in the 2009 season at the age of 19.
He became a first-team regular before suffering his devastating cruciate ligament injury in the first half of a 1-1 draw with Borussia Dortmund in 2012.
Badstuber sat out the following season, and then played 15 times in 2014-15 — but struggled with various further injuries. His latest one in a series has been the ankle break in February and he has played thrice this season.
The German is strong in the air and most importantly is good with the ball at his feet. He is comfortable at centre-back and left-back and will surely be a huge addition to them.
