Swansea City are a club in deep distress at the moment, as they sit rock bottom of the PL points table, halfway through the season. Their top-flight status is in serious danger but the club has other issues to worry about now, as a few first team players are wanted by other clubs in the Premier League.
The Swans lost two of their most important players in Fernando Llorente and Gylfi Sigurdsson and recent reports claim that they might lose another in young Alfie Mawson this January.
According to The Telegraph, Mawson is now a top transfer target for West Ham United but bookmakers Ladbrokes claim that Merseyside outfit Everton and London outfit Crystal Palace, are both also favourites to land the Swansea defender in January. Roy Hodgson’s Crystal Palace are 5/1 favourites according to them, but should Palace consider a move for him?
A product of the Brentford academy, Mawson played for a few English clubs in the lower tiers the 23-year old only moved to Swansea in the summer last year but made an immediate impact, cementing a place in the first team. He has been the first choice for three managers at the Liberty Stadium now, and is surely a star for the future.
He has represented the England U21 side in six games already and is waiting for his first senior cap. A strong and intelligent defender, with great positional sense and a decent technique, Mawson is a solid defender, who wins almost everything thrown at him in the air. He is not shy of throwing himself around in front of goal and is a player who hates to concede.
Not prone to errors at all, he is comfortable dribbling out of the back or launching long, he is also dominating presence in the other box and is a decent addition to the squad at Crystal Palace.
The Eagles have a long list of defenders, with Scott Dann and Mamadou Sakho, standing as the first choice. James Tomkins (linked with an exit), Timothy Fosu Mensah (on loan), Martin Kelly, Damien Delaney and Jairo Riedewald have played a role in this position.
While Mawson is by no means an upgrade on the first choice options at the club, he is more than capable of being the first choice replacement and in time, can cement a place in the first team.
A number of clubs are interested in his services and it will be interesting to see if Palace, struggling with similar issues as Swansea, can lure him to London.
