Everything you needed to know, and probably some things you didn't
 |
| Capel during his time at Sevilla. |
With all the recent murmurings surrounding Laudrup's future at the Swans I've been looking for something positive to write about for a while, however in truth it's been a slow week or two in terms of actual news as the club continue to play their cards close to their chest. As I write this Skysports News are reporting that there's been a "further breakdown" between Huw Jenkins and the Swans' manager, however let's deal with that if it comes to it.
One item of news which has caught my eye of late is the rumour we're looking to sign Spanish flyer Diego Capel. After a brief stint at Barcelona as a youngster, Capel progressed through the youth ranks at Sevilla before getting his break in rather tragic circumstances. During the first game of the 2007/08 season, regular left winger Antonio Puerta collapsed on the pitch, suffering from the first in a series of cardiac arrests that sadly he would fail to recover from. Originally he managed to walk off the pitch, but after collapsing again in the changing room he was rushed to hospital, where he died three days later.
Despite the adverse nature of his promotion to a first-team berth, Capel went on to do well for Sevilla, though goals have always been in short supply throughout his career. In 283 games (in all competitions) he's scored 27 goals, meaning he's just shy of scoring one goal every ten games, but in fairness to him he's very much your traditional winger and has been credited with 45 assists thus far in his career. Quite a respectable number I'm sure you'll agree, and personally I always feel assists aren't credited as often as they should be, so I'd wager good money that over the years he's had a hand in more goals than these stats give him credit for. He was rewarded for his fine form for Sevilla with selection for the national side, providing two assists in a 3-0 friendly win in Denmark which was enough to see him included in the squad for Euro 2008. He started the opening game against Bosnia & Herzegovina but sadly picked up an injury in the days after the game, which ruled him out for the rest of the championship and saw him replaced by Albert Riera (remember him?).
In 2011 after seven years at Sevilla, he made the relatively short hop from Seville (in the south of Spain) to Lisbon in Portugal where he signed for Sporting C.P for an undisclosed fee, and for a player who was once linked with a big money move to Spurs it must seem like his star has fallen slightly. Sporting finished this season in 7th position - hardly imperious and if he received an offer from a Premier League club I'm sure he'd be very interested in hearing what they had to say. Given that the figure floating around seems to be in the region of £4.5million I'd say his signature would be a prudent move on the part of the Swans, and that if he's provided with the right platform Capel can excel.
 |
| Capel this season, in action for Sporting Lisbon. |
Despite playing 283 games for Sevilla and Lisbon, he's still just 25 and has plenty of life left in him. If he can kick on he has all the attributes to be a quality addition to the Swans squad; he's fast, can cross (something only Wayne Routledge can claim to have done consistently) and can beat his man, but more importantly for me he's left footed and is a traditional "flyer". At present the wingers tuck in a lot and hit the gap between the centre-back and full-back, but with a player like Capel we'd have a different option which would keep the opposition on their toes.
With other teams becoming increasingly accustomed to Swansea's gameplan, it's important we vary our play from season to season so that rivals aren't able to develop a system which counteracts the way Swansea play. Everton are an example of what I'm talking about - they seem able to deal with whatever the Swans throw at them and having a different option (hopefully with the acquisition of a striker we'll actually have a few next season) would be a great help if we're struggling to break teams down. Last term Capel played 35 games in all competitions, scoring 5 goals and getting 9 assists - statistics which easily stand up to any of Swansea's wingers (read a statistical comparison of Dyer, Routledge & Hernandez here), although given the disparity between the Premier League and the Portuguese equivalent it's hard to read too much into performance stats. Which is handy, because I can't really find any...
From what I know of Capel, I'm all for this move. He's fast, has played at the highest level and has a pretty impressive collection of titles from his time at Sevilla; he's won the UEFA Cup twice, the European Supercup, the Copa del Rey twice as well as the Supercopa de Espana - I'd wager he'd easily be the Swans most decorated player and with European football on the horizon it could be his experience is viewed as a massive asset which would aid a squad full of players keen to experience Europe for the first time, but short on experience at the highest level. Whether he's brought in or not remains to be seem, and will likely hinge on whether Michael Laudrup is still at Swansea City next year. I for one hope they're both in SA1 come August.