Phil SumblerYesterday’s links saw us, Sheffield Wednesday and Wigan Athletic all linked with a transfer interest in Man Utd midfielder Charlie Savage, son of former Wales midfielder Robbie, who spent some time on loan at Forest Green last season.
The report – originating in Football Insider – suggests that the trio of clubs have registered their interest “in the last 48 hours” and are exploring potential loan or permanent deals for the player who has a contract at Old Trafford for two more years with the option for a further twelve months beyond that.
As everyone knows at this time of year there are lots of transfer speculation links that are driven up by both agents and clubs to try and increase interest in players particularly those where there may be some genuine interest but by extending interest to other potential suitors then the genuine interest maybe stepped up as a result.
The Swans will be linked with several players over the next few weeks – it’s an easy link for clubs like us where there has been a change in management which means there is likely to be extra transfer activity as a result.
A move for Charlie Savage would – certainly on the face of it – have no merit at this moment in time. Midfield is a place where we have no real desire currently to fill gaps. Matt Grimes, Jay Fulton, Joe Allen, Ollie Cooper and Olivier Ntcham will for a start tell you that and there will be nobody reading this that believes that Savage would arrive here and displace any of those players for regular game time. On that basis why would the Swans consider a permanent move and why would a loan move make any sense for someone to come and sit on the bench at best?
From the perspective of the Old Trafford club there is probably no doubt that they would be prepared to let Savage leave the club. Whether that is on loan or a permanent deal who knows but one thing is certain if it is a loan deal then they will want regular football to be a part of that loan deal. It is what he got at Forest Green so any loan move this summer will not make sense.
Things can change quickly in football and a departure of Grimes or Ntcham (as an example) will change our need for a midfielder but, at the same time, it will also change the transfer budgets that we have for a midfielder and probably move us further away from Savage than closer to it. Happy to be wrong on that front but that is how I see it.
For me this particular media speculation can be dismissed (although accepting that is a personal opinion not given from a position of knowledge) and that it is an example of someone trying to drum up interest in a player where there is possibly none.
Have the Swans registered interest in the last 48 hours should be the initial question. With the follow up being why would we. And when you have those answers you will probably reach the same belief that there is no substance to these links. Maybe!
Totally agree Phil we’ve no need of another midfielder but saw a couple of Forest Green games on TV and Savage seems to be a No.10 type. If Ntcham moves on he could be a quick replacement but it seems his agent is just trying to find his client another team.