Planet Swans ArchivesIt looked all over for Bartley last season after he was dispatched to join up with former manager Garry Monk at Leeds. He is though – at least for now – back at the Liberty following that loan spell and is with Paul Clement’s squad on their US tour.
The Sun have been reporting this week that Premier League rivals Stoke and Palace are keen to secure his services whilst it is also only natural that he is being linked with a move to Middlesbrough, now under the charge of Monk. Leeds are also interested although that seems the most unlikely of all the potential suitors for Bartley’s signature.
But you have to start to wonder whether we may just look to hold onto the player in the absence of good centre half backup for either Alfie Mawson or Federico Fernandez.
With Jordi Amat away from the club and Mike Van Der Hoorn certainly a weak option in comparison to Bartley we either have to have a new player lined up or the thinking in the management team is that he can provide that cover should we have any injuries in the middle of our defence.
We know from his time at Leeds last season that he is not a bad player, the only question mark exists as to whether he can make the step up to the Premier League but with regular game time it is possible.
Mawson and Fernandez made themselves the first choice central pairing during the second half of last season and will rightly take that into the new season next month. It is though vital that we do have cover and as it stands that would only be provided by Van Der Hoorn which would be more than just a small worry to many Swansea fans.
For me it is not inconceivable that Bartley will remain a Swansea player when the transfer window closes at the end of next month and if that is the case then we can only hope that the best of him is yet to come.
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