Spaniard departs for Napoli on loan - will this have a positive effect on the squad?
Anybody who's a regular reader of the blog will know I'm not the biggest fan of Michu...and even if you haven't the title of this post will have given it away.
Firstly, I would like to say thanks to Michu for his first season here where, for the most part, he was excellent. His goals propelled us to safety in the league and went a long way in winning us the League Cup, and I will always be thankful for that, however I never felt that his style of play suited our game, and more often than not I thought his influence on our performance was destructive.
The Swans are built on a system, and adherence to that system is everything - as the old saying goes "you have to know the rules before you can break them". With the Swans this is especially true, as for your "key" players to be able to make a difference they need to first of all be carrying out the duties required of the player playing their role within that system.
For the first part of Michu's career here it wasn't that much of a problem, as everything he touched turned to gold. He was clearly the focal point, and whenever he got the ball he seemed to score. That's all well and good if he can keep that up forever, but the reason teams aren't built around one player is that if said player hits a bad patch of form, all of a sudden the team is blunt in attack and has no outlet. Sound familiar? Argentina have the best player in the world (Lionel Messi) and even they couldn't rely on one player to make the difference against Germany - nine times out of ten a good team will beat an average team with an exceptional player in their ranks.
Michu clearly has some issues if his on-field attitude is anything to go by, so maybe there's more to his loss of form than we'll ever know, but I do feel that playing with players who perform their role more traditionally is the way to go for a team like the Swans. Michu was just too much of a wildcard - his unpredictability in a passing team, for me, will only ever work as a regular option if he's played up front, but given his refusal to maintain a striker's position - instead picking up random positions all over the field - playing Bony (or any half-decent orthodox striker) will always be a better option in my opinion.
This is without considering the extra wages now available to strengthen the squad. Ok - any planning needs to be careful as we could well have to pay Michu his thirty-something grand a week next season but for this season at least, that's a hefty whack off the wage bill. Whether Gomis' wages were permitted because we knew Michu would be departing is something we'll never know, but either way the Spaniard heading to Napoli has given Monk and Huw a bit more room for manouvere in the wages department.
Who the Swans will look to spend that extra available money on between now and the beginning of the season remains to be seen, but it appears one player about to sign on is Jefferson Montero, fresh from the Brazilian World Cup. He's quick, he's got a good name, and that's about all I know. Let's hope he's quality!
As for Michu, I truly wish him all the best. Hopefully he lights up Serie A, decides he wants to play as either an attacking midfielder or striker, and comes back with a point to prove. On his day there's few better, and I'd love for the Swans to have the problem of an in-form, chomping-at-the-bit Michu back in the squad and raring to go.
The good chomping-at-the-bit, that is.