Swansea City have officially announced the signing of Joel Asoro from Sunderland on a four-year deal this week. The 19-year-old has passed his medical at the Liberty and has completed his transfer for a reported £2m fee. The Black Cats have also included an undisclosed sell-on clause.
This should be a massive boost for the Swans faithful as Asoro boasts massive potential in the Championship and has become their third arrival this summer, behind Yan Dhanda and Jordi Govea. Despite Sunderland getting relegated to the League One, Asoro has been a refreshing presence in attack, scoring 3 goals and setting up 2 assists in 34 appearances across all competitions.
That might not be a prolific stat which will knock you off your boots but take it into consideration that he just turned 19 this April. Asoro has managed to give the Black Cats a different identity despite not being a primary striker. With his technical proficiency, Asoro was primarily trained to be a creative head in midfield. His attacking talent, pace and scoring eye along with the inefficiency of the rest of his teammates almost forced Chris Coleman’s hand at playing the youngster as a centre-forward.
With the front line misfiring in every game this season, Asoro managed to carve out a prominent role in the Black Cats lineup with over 1700 minutes of footballing action registered last season.
The attacker started out in the youth ranks of IFK Haninge which is based out of Southern Stockholm. He later switched to IF Brommapojkarna when he was 11 to continue his development. Sunderland managed to sweep him up against the likes of elite European competition in 2015 and featured him against Middlesbrough a year later. Asoro had made 23 appearances for the Sunderland U23s before breaking into the scene in the last campaign.
His teammate, Josh Maja has also progressed well alongside him and was involved in contract extension talks earlier in the 2017/18 season. Asoro registered an astonishing 14 goals from his 21 caps for the Sweden U17 side and also managed 3 goals from his 11 matches with the U19s. He could one day be a leading figure for his country’s senior team and also a star in the English top divisions.
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With Swansea ready to offload some of their expensive contracts, the teenager is expected to be shoulder major responsibilities in the coming term, especially under a manager who favours young talent.
