Swans have striker bid rejected – we need to be aiming higher?

It is difficult to know what was the biggest feeling yesterday.   The one of surprise that suggested we have actually made a bid for a striker or the feeling of disappointment when it was revealed that the alleged bid was for Adama Sidibeh as revealed by the Evening Courier.

It was early last month that it was first reported that the striker – with a fixed price allegedly of £500k – was the subject of interest from the Swans and, as we reported then, the striker who signed on in Scotland at the start of the year, Sidibeh played in total just fifteen games last season and was also admitted to hospital at the end of February after collapsing at the end of a game against St Mirren.

“He did get a knock on his head but was fine when the physio went on, there were no symptoms of problems.

“He stayed on the park. We had a chance pretty late on and maybe the keeper caught him. Maybe that led to him lying on the ground, I don’t know. We need to get further checks for peace of mind.”

In a week where Macaular Langstaff moved to Millwall the Courier reports on the bid that “The offer is a long way short of Saints’ valuation of the player and there was no thought of entertaining it or entering into negotiations, Courier Sport understands.

“Sidibeh is under contract for two more seasons and is due back at McDiarmid Park on Wednesday after manager Craig Levein allowed him to return home for a week.

“The Perth boss believed he was starting to show signs of tiredness, having not long become a full-time footballer and gone through the experience of his first international camp.”

There are, for me, so many alarm bells that are ringing in this particular transfer story and if this is the levels of our ambitions for the remainder of this window then we are in for a very long and hard season ahead.   A player who has not set the world alight in a division that is broadly weaker in most places than the Championship should tell you much about his ability and we had enough trials and tribulations last season buying strikers who do not fit into our squad.

The worst part is, if the original report was right, and the fixed fee was £500k then quite how we have managed to lowball that tells you much about the negotiation skills of those making the moves in the transfer market.   We have a long track record of poor negotiations on multiple deals but those lessons we keep being told are learned seem to be anything but.

As per the original report I still hope that this is a nothing story, if it’s not then we should probably be more worried about what the next few weeks holds!