Michael Reeves
The Joel Piroe transfer position finally closed yesterday when the forward signed a four year deal at Leeds United and departed the Swansea.com Stadium after a two year stay in which he scored close on fifty goals for the club.
Piroe left the Swans for an “undisclosed fee” that has been reported within the media as ยฃ12m although no details have – at the time of writing – been revealed as to the make up of that ยฃ12m in terms of any split between up front fees and add on clauses.
Either way the deal was enough to persuade the Swans and Piroe to part company despite discussions between both parties to extend his stay at Swansea with an increased contract and a sell on clause.
With the official confirmation of the deal coming yesterday evening we created a snap poll on Twitter asking the question as to whether Swans fans thought that it was a good deal.
The overwhelming answer that came back was yes with over 340 votes cast in the 10 hours since the poll went live.ย ย 77% of fans believed that ยฃ12m was a good deal for the Swans despite the natural disappointment that the player had moved on.
For the reported ยฃ12m – is the deal to sell Piroe a good one for the #Swans? #LUFC
— Planet Swans (@swansnews) August 24, 2023
Of course many thoughts behind these votes could easily change should it turn into the case that very little of the Piroe money is made available to the recruitment team for replacements for Piroe although there is already an acceptance that some of the fee (and the same for any sale of Nathan Wood) will need to be placed to ensuring that the books at the club are balanced.
The other reality remains that there was a danger here that Piroe could have ended in a position where he was running down the last year of the contract and one of our prized assets could, had that happened, have left on a free transfer which would have been as close to neglect as any piece of business we have done in our history.
A new contract would have very much suited (and protected) us but Piroe turned that down at the start of the week and from that point onwards the sale was the only option available – the good part is we got the deal done quickly.
But for now – and on the face of the headline figures – Swans fans are comfortable that the seemingly inevitable sale of Piroe has been done at a good fee for the club.ย And that surely has to be the main thing?
What are your thoughts?ย ย Leave your comments below, vote in the Twitter poll or join in the discussion on the football forum here.
We seem to be significantly weakening the side, especially if Wood goes to Southampton. I agree Piroe had to be sold, but it concerns me who is replacement will be . We seem to be relying too much on loans and players not yet exposed to the championship. However, in their defence the recruitment team do seem to occasionally dig up diamonds. Not confident of a promotion push at all especially if we donโt beat Preston on Saturday which is a big ask. Hope we donโt go and undo all our good work in the transfer market in this final week.
Why would we sell to one of our competitors? Especially Leeds. 20 million…15 million…12 million… club if Leeds waited another few days they would have had him for 8 million. Club has panicked as usual in selling players. No ambition…
Leeds are not your competitors, the size in clubs is no comparison, also leeds have billionaire owners now be realistic. Its decent money last year of contract reinvest and hopefully push for play offs.
We sell our top scorer and recent history tells us tha very little of that money will be passed on to Duff or Watson andd people are happy?
Although losing Piroe is a blow don’t really think, once he turned down a new conract, we had any option to sell him. I can imagine what the up roar would be if he had an average season and we lost that money. I hope now they have had their money, that they seem to want every season, they will resist Southampton and keep Wood.
Well basically Wood has said he wants to go to Southampton and fee quoted as ยฃ10m. So ยฃ20+million for the two players and there will not be a decent replacement for either if past recruitments are to go by. Remember Rhys Williams a centre back on loan from Liverpool, he wasnโt up to it and only played 5 games for us. Balancing the books is one thing getting relegated is another we canโt afford, because there will be another exodus of players and no parachute payments this time.