Huw insists Arsenal have made no contact over Ash, while Michu (unsurprisingly) wants us to sign a striker

Huw: "No Arsenal bid for Ash"

Ashley Williams. "You what??"

With the increasing speculation surrounding Ashley Williams's future, it seems it's now only a matter of time before a bid is made. Huw confirmed yesterday that there had been no contact from Arsenal regarding a transfer, so if they do want to speak with him they had better put some money on the table first. As mentioned before, the Swans are likely to value their captain at around £12million, but Arsenal are likely to start a lot lower than that, and it may well be that £10mil ends up being enough.

I'm still unconvinced that we'll be able to replace such a vital component in the team without suffering a loss of form. Ash has been here so long now, and made such an impact during games, that it's almost impossible to replicate what he does for the Swans - and his statistics bear testament to this; he made the most interceptions and clearances of any player in the PL this season. That kind of impact on a game is very hard to replicate, although Chico seems to be doing his best, so it's possible if Ash does leave we could sign someone more "Monk-esque" and go back to having one organiser and one bruiser.

One motivating factor for Arsenal may be that in recent times Thomas Vermaelen has found himself on the bench at the expense of Per Mertesacker and Laurent Koscielny - the Belgian needs to be playing first team football so unless he's given assurances about his role in the squad he may well be off, at which point the signing of Williams becomes even more important...and may add a little onto the price tag.

Liverpool were reported as being interested, however with Kolo Toure set to complete a move to Anfield that seems to rule out Ash teaming up with Rodgers again, so it looks like it's Arsenal or bust. Whether a bid materialises we'll have to wait and see, but a friend has pointed out this bears more than a passing resemblance to Gary Cahill's proposed move to Arsenal. Wenger didn't stump up then, and ended up missing out. Will he this time? I wouldn't bet on it.

Michu wants a strike partner for next year

This is the (old) news that Michu prefers playing in a "second-striker" position, as opposed to up front on his own. Why he feels the need to keep reiterating this I don't know, as everyone is more than aware he prefers playing in a deeper role (even if some of us think he's more effective up front), however it does seem likely he'll get his wish with a number of potential candidates mooted. Romelu Lukaku, Iago Aspas, Arouna Kone & Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang have all been linked with the Swans of late, so it seems we've now moved on from shopping at the footballing equivalent of Lidl to the reduced section at Waitrose. Why pay top dollar when if you sniff around you can pick up top quality goods at a knock down price? Wigan in particular have a number of players worth looking at, and you'd better believe we'll have scouts knocking around the North-West seeing who's worth a cheeky bid during the close season.

"I don't know if I will score more than 22 goals next season. You never know but I hope so. It's difficult to score that many goals but I think the club will sign new strikers in the summer. 

"My team-mates next year will score, so there won't be too much pressure. I prefer to play behind the striker but, if the gaffer asks me to play anywhere, I'll play there." Miguel Michu

There is a tactical consideration regarding the signing of a new striker, however. For large swathes of this season, Michu has led the line, with three midfielders behind him (be it two CM's and a winger, or three CM's), but on occasion he has dropped back to play in the advanced midfield role. Now, while I do think Michu is effective in attack in this position I think the overall effect he has on the midfield is a disruptive one - disturbing the normal crisp rhythm the Swans engine room operates with. I think this is largely due to the lack of a physical element to the Swans' central midfield options - with Michu at the head of a midfield three any two of Ki, Leon and JDG always seemed a bit lightweight to me and liable to be over-run by a physical, organised midfield, and this is in exacerbated by Michu's tendency to wander.

The Swans' system is based on the players adhering to positional guidelines strictly, and if one player drifts it then throws the whole midfield out of whack, which has happened on numerous occasions this season. Hopefully, with the signing of a dedicated defensive midfielder it'll mean we can play with a striker and Michu, in what is starting to become something more akin to a 4-4-1-1 formation. I'm not averse to this at all, it's just I feel with the players currently at our disposal there were numerous occasions we'd have been better off playing three central midfielders in an attempt to maintain midfield supremacy. 

Who we'll bring in remains to be seen, but the names mentioned are exciting in that they seem to indicate the level of player that we'll be looking at. It doesn't make sense to jump into the market too soon as players may yet become available, but Laudrup no doubt already has a long list of targets which the board will be vetting and inquiring about. With the Swans' boss stating that, if all current players were retained, he'd like to bring in 6 or 7 players, it looks like we're in for a busy summer in South Wales. Get your bargaining hat on Huw, you're up!