When Swansea City named Francesco Guidolin as their interim manager in January, his job was to just save the ship from sinking. The Italian overachieved at the Liberty and took the Swans to 12th by the time when the season finished from the danger zone. It was no big surprise that the Welsh side kept the former Udinese manager on a permanent basis following the impact he made at the club in a very short time.
We have to wait and see if Guidolin can build on the strong start he had with the Swans. The Italian has bolstered the squad at his disposal to a good extent this summer but a major setback came the Swans’ way as arguably their best player last season Andre Ayew left the club for West Ham for a £20.5m fee.
Swansea did a few impressive signings of their own as well as they bagged the signatures of players like Fernando Llorente, Leroy Fer, Mike van der Hoorn and so on.
With the new Premier League season all set to kick off this weekend, let us take a look at three Swansea players to watch out for this season.
Stephen Kingsley
The 22-year-old left-back joined Swansea from his boyhood club Falkirk in 2014 but had to wait until 10th January 2016 to get his debut in a Swansea shirt. The youngster made his Premier League debut on 2nd March against Arsenal in a 2-1 win and had three more appearances by the end of the season. Given the promise he showed last season, Neil Taylor’s position in the team could be in jeopardy. The 22-year-old is also well capable of plying his trade as a centre-back, defensive midfielder and a left winger thanks to his versatility. The next season could prove to be Kingsley’s season.
Mike van der Hoorn
When Van der Hoorn was signed earlier this summer, the intention was probably to make him compete with Fernandez and Amat for a start alongside skipper Ashley Williams. However, with Swansea’s trusted general Williams moving to Everton, the pressure on the Dutchman signed from Ajax this summer will be high.
Fernando Llorente
Once one of the most feared strikers in Europe, Llorente was brought in this summer to heal Swansea’s goalscoring woes. Still only 31, the former Bilbao, Juventus and Sevilla forward still has plenty to offer at the big stage. A physical player, Llorente has a gifted heading ability. In addition, he is also gifted with good skills, which allows him to play with his back to goal and hold up the ball for his teammates to create space and scoring opportunities. The Spanish international has what it takes to set the Premier League on fire and we definitely have to watch out for what he can come up with.
