Swansea City manager Russell Martin dismissed any claims of frustrations behind the scenes amongst himself and the club’s owners following the closure of the January transfer window.
After a quiet deadline day that only saw one arrival (Ogbeta) and one exit (Walsh), frustration grew amongst the fans as news broke the following day that the owners had agreed deals to bring in Ryan Longman permanently from Brighton and Ryan Giles on loan but had later not sanctioned them.
We don’t know the full details on what happened there and the reasons why the moves didn’t go ahead despite seemingly having deals agreed, so we won’t go into it. What I would say though is that the owners of a history of this type of stuff. Making decisions and deals and at the very last minute pulling out so it wouldn’t surprise me if this happened yet again regarding these two deals.
Longman yesterday signed a permanent deal with Hull. Swansea also had the chance to sign Wolves’ Ryan Giles on loan ahead of the deadline, but deal was not sanctioned. Giles, who had been on loan at Cardiff, joined Blackburn
— Gareth Vincent (@Gareth_Vincent) February 1, 2022
What we do know though is some details on the Matt O’Riley pursuit. A move that Russell Martin played down last month saying that we were “never in for him” due to a lack of finances. Talk of only a £300,000 up front fee is also untrue with the terms requiring the full £1.5m paid up front making it a non-starter.
I’d have loved to get him [O’Riley], but it wasn’t an option for us financially.” – Russell Martin
During his press conference after the 1-0 defeat to Luton, Swans boss Russell Martin was of course asked about the window, and he responded again that he didn’t like deadline day and it was all a theatre.
“Did we do everything we’d have liked to? No, I’m not going to sit here and lie. but have we been supported as much as the owners can possibly support us at this moment in time? I believe so, I trust them on that.
