On the day that Albert Serran completed his move to the Liberty Stadium – the sixth Spaniard to do so – blog site Sportingo asks the question whether it is possible to succeed any more in the game with local talent.
It is impossible to criticise that part of Roberto’s management at the moment especially when you consider the success last season of Andrea Orlandi, Guillem Bauza and Angel Rangel. And when you factor in the two Dutchmen grabbed last summer as well then the justification is there for buying European.
Jordi Gomez, Gorka Pintado and Fedo Bessone have already been added this summer as well as Serran and it is almost feasible that it could be not far off the day when the Swans manage to field a non British XI for the first time in their history.
Graham Fisher, the author of the article wrote “Swansea City are a great club with a proud history and a fervent and passionate crowd. They thoroughly deserved their promotion last season and in Roberto Martinez seem to have a manager of high quality and great promise. The thing that worries me slightly is that he seems to be turning Swansea into the Arsenal of the Championship.
“There is, of course, nothing inherently wrong with bringing in your fellow countrymen, but it just seems slightly wrong to me for reasons I can’t quite put my finger on. I know all the arguments about freedom of movement and employment and the ongoing debate about quotas, but I’m not sure that I would feel totally comfortable with the moves if I were a Swansea fan. Being a fan is all about supporting your local team and can it feel local to you if all the players are from Spain or France or Portugal?
“I know that the most important thing for a supporter of any club is for your team to have success. Is it OK to achieve that success however you can or are there other things that are more important? Is there anything better about cheering the success of a side that consists of mainly local players who have come through the ranks, as against cheering the success of a side bought in from overseas?
“The Swansea fans are renowned for being proud of their team and proud of their country. Can they reconcile that with there being such a large Spanish contingent in the side? I think I could accept it as long as I was confident that the players were giving 100 per cent for the cause.”
(You can read the full blog on this subject by clicking here)
And the big question from here is surely we want success for the Swans – and if that is achieved does it really matter where the players come from provided they wear the shirt with pride?
El Jack Army….!
This article first appeared on JACKARMY.net.