Phil Sumbler
Swansea City closed off their pre-season at the weekend with a relatively comfortable 3-0 win over Rio Ave at the Swansea.com Stadium but new additions are still anticipated this week ahead of the league opener on Saturday when they travel to the North East.
Much of the preparations have now been completed and the focus is very much on the lunchtime kickoff on Saturday that will see a seventh successive Championship season start for the Swans with Luke Williams clear that more recruits are needed although the signs from the new ones were largely good on Saturday.
“I think all the new signings did really well,” said Williams at the end of Saturday’s friendly win. “And that’s encouraging again because the opposition was really very good.
“We got a good glimpse of the level of those players, and I think that was a more realistic test in terms of what we are going to face in the Championship. Sometimes pre-season games can be misleading, but I felt that was a more accurate reflection of where we are.”
The Swans boss was equally positive on more incomings to his squad ahead of the season start “If you look at the units on the pitch, from goalkeeper to defensive unit, midfield unit, wide positions, striker, there’s some recruitment to be done in all those areas and we are in negotiation to some extent with players in all those departments.
“But getting the deals done is a lengthy procedure and there’s a lot to it. But it’s positive that we’ve identified a number of players that are ideal for us and achievable for us and that will continue.
“I think the expectations can be dangerous [in the transfer market], so you try to control what you can control and trust the people who you work with that things are going to get done.
“Most head coaches want everything done before any one hits the grass before pre-season. Every single player in, every single player out but its not realistic so we have to try to be calm and do the best we can and trust things will be done in correct way.
“I think we haven’t finished building the squad and I think there are going to be a number of other clubs in the same situation as us.
“We’re confident we are going to have the correct numbers but also the quality we really desire as well, when we finish building this squad. I’m sure I’m going to be talking to you in the near future with more players having arrived.”
Whether one of those players is trialist Ruben Providence remains to be seen after he made a second half appearance against Rio Ave with Williams reflecting back on the display “We had the opportunity for him to train and be involved in this game, we barely had a chance to look at him properly, but now we’ve seen him in a good game and he showed some real quality which we expected as a high level player,” he said.
“Some really good physicality and good quality with the ball as well. We have a chance to spend a bit of more time with him and see what the outcome is there.”
Links with midfielder Noel Milleskog remain strong although the Swans have competition for the signing of the midfielder whilst Tyrese Campbell has been confirmed as someone that the Swans would be interested in signing. Whether either of these two are likely to be in SA1 before the squad travel to start their campaign you can debate for as long as you like but both are distinct possibilities and, as we have seen before this pre-season, our business happens quickly when we are ready to complete it.
Saturday’s match will prove to be a tough start to what will undoubtedly be another tough campaign for the Swans but after just over three months of lack of competitive action on the pitch we are almost ready to go again. And, like ever, we cannot wait.
The Swans match at Middlesbrough kicks off at 12.30pm Saturday and will be screened live on Sky Sports.
