Andy Coleman: We know what players we are pursuing this summer

Swansea City’s transfer dealings have come under much scrutiny and criticism over recent windows but the club retain the line that they are planning in advance and have already identified their summer shopping list which we are told will focus less on our reliance on the loan market.

Thirteen players arrived at the Swansea.com Stadium last summer but many of them have not worked out for the Swans and even some of them were moved on in January such was the lack of impact that they had.   The dealings of the summer window put the strategy of Paul Watson and Andy Coleman very much in the spotlight or as many would suggest the lack of a strategy.

We were told after the closure of the summer window that plans were in place for January but that did not stop the club leaving it until the last four days to secure signings which, in fairness, in the case of both Ronald and Placheta were very good arrivals although question marks were always going to be raised over the loan signing of Charles Sagoe Jr.

For several years the majority ownership group – or whoever they have fronting it at any point in time – have told us of a detailed plan to improve our transfer dealings although the over reliance on a data based model more than worries supporters about how clever that can be.

However, Watson and Coleman are keeping to the same line of preparation and planning as revealed in their recent meetings with the Supporters Trust in which they said the following:-

Paul Watson

• Club has scaled up scouting and analytics department since the summer, increasing the number of scouts from 1 to 6 and bringing in 2 Data Scientists. We have also reshaped our scouting tools to make sure we are achieving the best results with the reach and capacity we must physically see players in person.
• January achieved what we wanted – brought in much needed pace in Ronald, Płacheta, and Sagoe Jr.
• Club already has a list of positional targets to fill in the summer, and focus will be on more permanent signings and lower reliance on loan players. Want to be more targeted in how and where we use the loan market.

Andy Coleman

• The club know which players they will be pursuing in the summer transfer window.

Watson also added that the average wages of a Championship player is falling, something he believes is an effect of both FFP and the pandemic and is expecting to see an increased number of free agents in the summer giving us an opportunity to bring in experienced players to supplement a relatively young squad.

These are, of course, all positive noises to be heard but we should also acknowledge that we have heard these things before and – as Coleman – likes to tell us then actions always speak louder than words and that is what he wants to be judged on.    But there also does need to come a time when the actions do speak louder than the words – something we haven’t really seen in the almost twelve months of his tenure to date.

The Trust meetings also revealed that there would be an announcement from Coleman in the next few days (as referenced on our forum at the weekend) and Coleman has been telling people that it will be a “brave” thing that is announced in his statement.   We await to see if this is truly brave or can be judged in a totally different way.