It’s the tenth weekly TAWE Blog (already!?) where we look back at the week’s news and events, but there hasn’t been a great deal to look back on this week, as we saw goalkeeper Lucasz Fabianski leave to join West Ham, our shirt sponsor was revealed and the fixtures were released, but nothing in terms of what the fans really want to hear – the expected arrivals of some new signings.
There’s the old saying – “no news is good news” but not when it comes to football transfers. The only news we’re hearing lately is where some of our players are likely to be playing next season.
Wales Online said in this article that the Swans “remain focused on getting more players off their books before they make any moves for new recruits” but it is expected that at least another four players could leave this Summer, with Alfie Mawson and the two Ayew brothers expected to attract some decent transfer fees. We have to learn from last Summer that we just can’t hang around and wait all Summer before signing players and re-building our squad. Pre-season starts up again very soon – including a pre-season tour in Germany and Austria, and in an ideal world, you’d want new players in ready to go on tour.
Fabianski writes a hand-written letter to the Jack Army
It was confirmed this week that Lucasz Fabianski would be leaving to join West Ham for a fee thought to be worth around £7m including add-ons.
Some fans may feel disappointed in the “big pole in our goal” for leaving, but you can hardly blame him really. Yes he cried after the Stoke game when relegation was confirmed, but he recently explained why:
“I cried because of the respect the fans showed me,”
“We had been relegated, and that was hard enough to accept, but instead of being angry and frustrated, they showed they respected me for what I had done for the club.
“It was personal respect and I will never forget that. I really would like the fans to know that.
“That means everything to me. I may have left the club and I know some fans may feel unhappy with me, but I hope they know I gave everything for the club and worked as hard as I could for four years.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/BkQaht-Amo0/?hl=en
Will he get the same respect and love from the West Ham fans as he did the Jack Army? Who knows but he’ll definitely be a success if he can continue the form he has shown for us over the last few seasons.
Other Transfer News Round-Up
Of course, the transfer news round-up only involves our own players really and there’s not a great deal to say about possible players coming in. There’s some speculation of potential targets, but little to suggest that a move for any player is even remotely close to being completed.
Reports in Turkey suggest that Swansea City are looking for a 3million euro loan fee for Wilfried Bony, who has been offered to Besiktas.
La Liga side Sevilla are getting closer to completing a move for midfielder Roque Mesa for a fee of around £8m.
In terms of possible transfer targets, it’s all just speculation still, with no concrete reports of expected, imminent arrivals. Following Fabianski’s departure, we’re now being linked with Red Star Belgrade shot-stopper Milan Borjan.
Speculation also says that we’re interested in signing Rangers right-back James Tavernier, who spoke about his future this week and said that he has “unfinished business” with the SPL club.
Follow the latest Transfer rumours in the Forum thread here
New Shirt Sponsor
The wait is almost over to see what our new shirts will look like next season, as the club revealed our new shirt sponsor for the 2018/19 Championship season, and yes, it’s yet another betting company that nobody has heard of – BetUK.com.
The new shirts will be revealed on Monday morning, including the training wear which will feature 21.co.uk as the sponsor.
We’re Away First…..Again
The fixtures were announced on Thursday, and once again, we’re away from home on the opening day of the season, a trip to Sheffield United which will be shown live on Sky Sports, at the later kick-off time of 5:30 pm.
Click here for the full fixtures
And here’s an interesting tweet which shows just how many times we’ve started a season away from home in the last 12 seasons:
In 2006/07 Swansea started the season at home to Chelhenham. Since then every single season opener apart from Man United at the Liberty in 2013/14, has been away. This will be the 11th time in the last 12 seasons that we start the season away from home. That's a pretty crazy run.
— Guto Llewelyn (@GutoLlewelyn) June 21, 2018
