Swans' skipper and Spanish striker expected to be the subject of a desperate bid from Arsenal, but will we or should we sell?
Cometh the hour, cometh the panic emanating from the Emirates. Arsene Wenger's continued reluctance to spend what most clubs would consider a fair transfer fee seems set to see the Swans resolve tested, as all signs point to a serious, serious bid for one or both of Ashley Williams or Michu, but regardless of any inflated transfer fee we'd receive is there any benefit to selling players this close to the end of the transfer window?
Given the Swans are continuing to prove their reputation as canny negotiators in the transfer market is more than justifiable, it's hard not to have doubts that selling players this late in the day could leave us in something of a sticky situation. Take Michu for example; Laudrup has been on record for weeks, as has Huw, stating that even though we spent £12million on Wilfried Bony we're still in the market for another striker, so the idea of selling a player who is likely to play a fair amount of games at centre-forward this season really doesn't seem to make sense.
That being said, every player has their price and rumour has it £25million is the price needed before the Swans would accept a bid for a player who only cost £2million barely 12 months ago. That would represent, by my maths, a profit of 1250%. Given the Swans pride in how they operate a financially responsible football club, it's hard to look at that and argue it doesn't make sense. For me, £25million is the kind of fee which I would have to accept as sufficient to prise any of our players away - it's a stupendous sum which could, for example, be put to good use on stadium expansion, improved training facilities or any other number of off-field projects, as well as obviously having a fair whack left over with which to seek a replacement. After all, we've already signed a £12million striker this summer so any replacement would, I'd imagine, be likely to fall more in the "up to £5million" bracket.
As for Ashley Williams, that's a prospect I'm more concerned about. The Swans' skipper is, to me, integral at the moment, and with Chico Flores I think we could see a partnership develop which would rival any in the Premier League. Finding a solid centre-half who would slot into a Premiership team which play the way Swansea do is surely a bigger ask than finding a young eager centre-forward, and in selling Ash we'd be relying more on the quality of our existing centre-backs Jordi Amat and Garry Monk (along with the aforementioned Flores) than on the likelihood of finding a quality first-team replacement. Never say never - you don't know who the Swans have been tapping up, but finding a player to replace Ash is a massive, massive task.
It remains to be seen if and when a bid arrives for either or both of the Swansea players, and I've got fingers, toes and everything else crossed that nothing ever comes of this, but with Wenger reported to have made a £10million bid for Yohan Cabaye it seems his transfer scramble is starting in earnest. Prior to the Villa defeat he'd tried to appease fans (and journalists) by saying "Don't worry - we will be signing players" and The Mirror have gone as far as to suggest that a deal is in place for Ashley Williams which Wenger simply has to rubber-stamp, but as yet he's been reluctant given the transfer fee involved. Then again, an article in the same publication from four days ago states that Arsenal have so far offered only £6million - around half what the Swans would expect - but this doesn't tally with what Huw Jenkins said yesterday; that the Swans have "received no phone calls about any of their players".
It remains to be seen what the Swans would do if presented with a mega-money bid, but you can bet they'll maximise any fee whenever they're letting a player leave who, ideally, would be sticking around for some time yet. Michu and Ash fall firmly in that category, and I can't help but shake the feeling that the Swans' resolve will be seriously tested in the next few days.