Buy European

Buy European was the message from Roberto Martinez this week as he praised the talent that is available on the continent – something too often overlooked by his counterparts he believes.

Roberto was a big advocate of the European imports this summer with three from Spain and two from Holland alone as he rebuilt a Swansea squad that he hope will deliver Championship football come next May. All have settled in well with De Vries, Rangel and Bodde already some of the first names on the team sheet with both Orlandi and Mayol having played their part so far.

And with all arriving for a fraction of the cost that their English counterparts would seemingly cost you can also imagine that Roberto is a popular man inside the Swansea boardroom which is showing a healthy profit on his transfer dealings to date.

“It’s a huge market out there,” he told the Western Mail. “People underestimate the foreign market.

“Obviously you need to understand it, know about it and know which are the right players to bring in.

“If you know where to look, what you can get from the continent is a lot cheaper and better value than players from what I believe is an inflated British market. You can get what you really want for good money in Europe.

“I love football and I have always watched games on a daily basis,” he claimed. “There’s no better way to learn about the game tactically than watching different leagues.

“They have different questions which need different answers on the pitch. For me, watching things like Spanish football is good for my own personal knowledge, but then for Swansea as well.

“There’s also a huge following in Spain for what we are doing here. People know the players and they like what we are doing as a football club.

“At the moment we have such a big squad that there are no short-term signings planned,” he said.

“Obviously we will keep looking. But we are quite strong all over the park, especially with Alan Tate coming back in central defence.”