Another of last summer’s signings seems set to be moving on from the club with the reports this morning that Jerry Yates will be joining Derby County on a season loan loan.<\/p>\n
Yates was never a true fit for Swansea City last season and whilst many pointed out that he was a player who could score goals it became pretty clear that he was never likely to be a player who could score goals on a frequent enough basis for Swansea City.<\/p>\n
Pete O’Rourke reported the interest yesterday evening and it was also suggested that Derby’s capture will have seen off interest from Blackburn Rovers, QPR and Stoke City who are all credited as wanting to take Yates away from SA1 for the season.<\/p>\n
Moving Yates on this summer has been long suggested as a key part of our transfer strategy for the summer with the Swans making it reasonably well known that they are on the hunt for a new striker.\u00a0 \u00a0In an ideal world a sale would have been the method of departure but a loan deal will free up the wages for the striker and make room in the budget for a replacement.<\/p>\n
Derby are preparing for a return to Championship football after their promotion last season and they see Yates as the man to spearhead their attack to do just that.\u00a0 Yates appeared in 43 of our 46 league games last term but with just 24 starts and 8 goals it was never a return that justified the reported \u00a32.5m transfer fee that we parted with last summer.\u00a0 We should though not lose sight of the fact that his return made him our joint top scorer which tells you much about what we need to do this summer in our attacking positions.<\/p>\n
This is the latest example of just how bad the summer’s work was twelve months ago and a stark warning as to exactly why we have had to prop the club up financially so often in the last twelve months and a clear message as to why so many are concerned about what this transfer window could look like.\u00a0 \u00a0We can only hope that the lessons we are told have been learned really have been but only time will tell on that front.\u00a0 \u00a0Or judge by the actions as Andy Coleman likes to tell us.<\/p>\n