Phil SumblerWe may still have Southampton, Leeds United and Leicester City all waiting in the wings to potentially make a move for Joel Piroe but Michael Duff has said clearly that there have been no bids yet for the Swans striker despite all the speculation.
It remains widely expected throughout SA1 that Piroe will move on but Duff also praised his professionalism at the moment with the striker still heavily featuring in his pre-season plans despite the belief that he is likely to depart for somewhere else.
Current thinking seems to be that it is between Southampton and Leeds to compete mainly for his services although Leicester have been long term admirers of the player before their relegation to the Championship at the end of last season.
There are now just under six weeks left in the transfer window and two weeks until the season starts which, as we discussed yesterday, starts to present challenges for the Swans who have a clear valuation in their minds for Piroe and they will be reluctant to lose him for anything less than that.
Whilst Duff was talking last night about the players in with two Premier League loans expected (Carl Rushworth and Harrison Ashby) and still moving in on Lee Buchanan it is the departure of Piroe that provides most of our current unknowns at this point in time.ย Which for Duff in itself presents challenges although he is doing the right thing in playing Piroe whilst, no doubt, having a clear plan in his mind for his departure when it happens.
“Speculation has been everywhere but we haven’t had a bid,” the Swans boss told Wales Online.
“He’s not come and knocked on the door saying he wants to leave.ย He’s not asked me what’s going on.ย He’s still asking me for information.ย It’s the first thing he says in the dressing room, ‘where do you wane me?’
“Until it gets taken out of my hands then we’ll keep working with him.”
Duff has already strengthened his forward line with the arrival of Jerry Yates from Blackpool but with Morgan Whittaker already out of the door he is likely to go back into the transfer market should we see the departure of Piroe and names have already been discussed internally – permanent and loan deals – for when that happens.
Piroe has scored more than forty goals in his two seasons at the Swans which is the reason why there is so much interest in the player and he is known to want to play at a higher level which is where the likes of the relegated three sides come in.ย ย Although all three will compete at the same level as the Swans this season there is an expectation on all three that they will be at the top end of the table an vying for an immediate return to the Premier League.
It still remains pretty difficult to envisage a place where Piroe is here post the transfer window but two years ago we were saying the same thing about Matt Grimes.ย Football has a habit of doing strange things at times but the Dutchman remaining maybe one of the strangest.ย ย And with the Swans still expecting those bids then maybe even stranger still.
Watching with interest.
