What does next season hold for Swansea City?

In a little under five weeks time the 2021/22 season will be underway and the Swans will be ready for their first game of the season away at Blackburn Rovers.  In between that we have the rumour and speculation that goes with a pre-season as well as of course a series of matches ahead of us to test the capabilities of the squad.   But what does the new season hold for Swansea City?

The last two have delivered for us play off campaigns albeit both of them unsuccessful with one ending at the semi final stage and the other at Wembley with what will only be remembered as a completely inept performance on the day.   That surely leaves us with a massive desire to go one step further or at least you would certainly hope so.

The five weeks that have followed since has been full of speculation driven largely by the future of the manager who has been heavily linked with both Crystal Palace and Fulham vacancies but ultimately certainly didn’t get appointed to them but – as we discussed yesterday here – nobody really knows just how close he came to either of them but we do know that yesterday he returned to pre-season training with the majority of his squad to start the preparations in earnest for the new season.

We still have uncertainty over the futures of the likes of Matt Grimes and Connor Roberts both of whom have been linked with moves away from the Liberty this summer although the unfortunate groin injury that ended Connor’s Euro 2020 campaign slightly early may have an impact on where he starts next season amidst the news that he has a three month injury lay off ahead of him.

The Swans have already strengthened with the arrival of Kyle Joseph and Joel Piroe both of whom add strength in depth to an attack that all too often last season lacked any bite at all although as much of that can be put down to a lack of creativity as much as a lack of skill up front.

There are plenty more transfer links of new players coming in (which for a change outweigh the rumours of players leaving) and there are clear areas of the squad that do need strengthening ahead of the new season, some of which has been created by the departure of some key loan players at the end of the season.

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It’s a real difficult prediction to make at this stage of a close season as to what you think will happen come next May but it is always a good gauge at this time of a close season to find out what people are thinking based on what we know and what we hear at this point in time.

Views will change over time of course and one or two top signings will make a real difference to the optimism but one or two key departures and the pessimism goes off the scale very quickly.

The other factor at the moment that people will, naturally, take into account is the dull football that was being played for large parts of last season.  Dull football that was highlighted and exposed on that day at Wembley.  With no real changes at the Liberty yet that no doubt will have an impact as people submit their answers to the question above.

One thing though is certain.  Next season will create plenty of discussion points – good and bad – and of course will feel very different as fans start to filter more and more back into football stadiums almost 18 months after we last went there in any real numbers.

As we’ve said more than once over many years on this website – Swansea City, never a dull moment!