The Michu deal may have just become a bit more complex, with the Swans reported to have made a bid for Napoli's Argentinian centre-back Federico Fernandez
As if it wasn't already convoluted enough, the Italian media have just started reporting that Swansea have made a bid for Napoli's Argentinian centre-back Federico Fernandez, who's still in Brazil dreaming of a World Cup win. Swansea bidding for a potential World Cup winner? The mind boggles!
All the talk has been that Napoli wanted a loan move for Michu with a view to buy for around 10million Euros, but with Swansea reportedly making a "significant" offer for Fernandez the Italian club are said to be considering the offer, and contemplating a straight swap to just get the deal over and done with. It all seems a bit "my mate's brother's dog was down the pub and my auntie's sister's neice's husband reckons..." but if there's any truth we're in for a top centre-back the writing may be on the wall for Chico's first-team ambitions. It looks like there's currently a bit of a cull going on in terms of Spaniards signed by Michael Laudrup, and with Chico having attracted negative attention on a number of occasions he'll be lucky to escape the chop.
The Swans are clearly keen for Michu's departure to be on a permanent basis, and the club have now confirmed they're speaking to Napoli - and that other clubs are interested in the Spaniard's signature, so I'd be surprised if a permanent deal didn't now happen. Play some clubs off against each other and surely it'd be easy enough to negotiate a permanent deal somewhere? The key is probably doing it with a club Michu would fancy playing for - I don't know too much about the Spaniard but if there's any truth to the rumours of homesickness I doubt he fancies a move to Crystal Palace, for example.
We'll see if any more comes of this in the next few days, and if it does there's a whole host of World Cup data I can pore through to see how Fernandez has played this summer. The amateur statistician in me wants something to come of this just so I can pore through all the numbers, but in truth I know little about him. I'll endeavour to remedy that though if it looks like we may end up signing him, obviously.
Any Argentinian or Italian based Swansea fans reading this - get in touch! Just how good is Federico Fernandez? How much would he cost? It'd be good to get input from exiled Jacks following from abroad...after all, our scouting network could definitely do with improving!