Young Northern Irishman has been in prolific form during pre-season; will it be enough to see him progress to the senior side?
Young striker Rory Donnelly can consider himself unlucky not to have been included in the first-team squad for Thursday's game against Malmo FF. After enjoying what can only be described as a prolific pre-season, he found himself back with the development squad for a friendly with Port Talbot last Tuesday, and I for one could forgive him if he felt a little hard done by.
Signed from Cliftonville for an undisclosed fee, he'd made his name after scoring 22 goals in his first two seasons with the club. He'd attracted attention from the two Liverpool-based clubs, but in the end Swansea got their man and it was likely this goal which really endeared him to the decision-makers in SA1:
Detractors would be quick to point out that his goals in this season's friendlies came against "lesser" opposition, but as has been said a million times you can only play what's put in front of you, and Donnelly did just that. He featured in almost all of the club's pre-season friendlies - he only missed out on the final Dutch tour game against Den Haag & the final friendly with Reading - and what's more he banged in more goals than anyone else over the close season - six in five appearances.
His technique and finishing ability are there for all to see, and he appears to have bulked up a bit too which will be of great benefit if he does make it into the first team this season. A great example of his prowess in front of goal came against Yeovil - skip to the 5:00 mark to see what I mean:
Laudrup has repeatedly stated his desire for another striker, but do we have the answer lurking under our nose? Last season, Itay Shechter was routinely preferred to Donnelly - even at the end of the season when it was clear that a) the Israeli striker wasn't very good, b) Donnelly was banging in goals for the U21 side and c) Shechter would be returning to his parent club at the end of the season, whereas Donnelly was our player for the foreseeable future. Couple that with what can only be described as a highly impressive pre-season for the young Northern Irishman and I think he can legitimately feel a little hard done by as he appears to be set to watch from the sidelines for the time being at least.
Now, don't mistake this as a criticism of Laudrup's selection policy; you simply cannot argue with the results thus far and who am I to question the great Dane? All I'm saying (and I'm sure I'm not alone) is that I'd like to see Donnelly on the bench for a few Premier League games soon. All you can do as a player is hope to perform to the best of your ability and, if you're a striker, to hit the back of the net when selected. Donnelly has done just that whenever he's been called upon to date, but so far his only appearance for the senior side came in a Carling Cup match against Crawley Town where he replaced Michu for the final 25 minutes or so.
With a long season ahead, and a potentially hectic fixture list on the horizon, it could well be that we see Donnelly playing for the first team sooner rather than later. Will 2013/14 be the season Rory Donnelly shows the world what he can do? I wouldn't bet against it...