Rob Davies
Swansea City have been reasonably busy so far this summer with incomings and outgoings but there still remains a glaring piece missing from the jigsaw as the season opener edges closer.
Korey Smith, Yan Dhanda and Flynn Downes are just some of the names that have departed with the loans of Hannes Wolf, Finley Burns and Cyrus Christie coming to an end leaving some gaps in the squad.
Joe Allen arrived to essentially replace Downes after his move to West Ham whilst two centre halves have joined permanently along with left back Matthew Sorinola on loan to strengthen the backline but the glaring position to strengthen remains a right wing back.
Christie and Ethan Laird were the two players who started the majority of games in that role last season but nobody has yet been signed to take that position – although both of those players are effectively still available on different terms.
It seemed likely that Christie would be heading for Preston North End several weeks ago but talks have broken down leaving him still without a club with just a week to go until the EFL season begins.
Laird on the other hand has been talking up some of his former teammates at Swansea in recent days whilst on pre season tour with Manchester United, suggesting that perhaps he could be interested in a return to the club this summer.
“At Swansea I knew some of the players already, some of the ‘legends’ you can say were literally just retired,” he told the Manchester United website.
“We had Wayne Routledge – literally just retired. Nathan Dyer – literally just retired. So obviously, Nath, I spoke to Nath and he helped me.
“Some of the players there are exceptional. The captain, Matt Grimes, technical, but there’s so many players you just take it in from what they do on the ball, so that was a bit different for me, just watching them and then you realise ‘oh, I need to do the same to do that’.”
Is that perhaps somebody touting for a return or just fond memories? Either way, the Swans boss is aware of the need to recruit a right sided player this window so we will have to wait and see who arrives at Fairwood with the season just eight days away!
