Fulham bid for Taylor rejected, N'Gog talks continue

I suppose we can't win them all...

Swansea reject bid for Neil Taylor

With both transfer stories which seem to have a semblance of truth about them being rather undesirable for your average Swansea fan, it seems there's been a bit of positive news at least - we've rejected Fulham's bid for Welsh international full-back Neil Taylor. Fulham have confirmed they're interested in Taylor, with Rene Meulensteen claiming he's been impressed by Taylor since his time at United:

“We have put a bid in. It’s on the table. It’s simmering. I rate him. I rated him when I was at United. 

"The boy was very unfortunate. He had that horrific injury at a time when he was really playing at his best and he had top four qualities.”   

http://hereisthecity.com/en-gb/2014/01/24/tmb-meulensteen-reveals-bid-for-swansea-left-back-has-been-lodge/? 

The bid is reported to be around the £4million mark, and to me that's waaaay too cheap. Given the market I'd say we should be aiming for a shade more than £6million at the least. Taylor is homegrown, has proven himself in the Premiership and could clearly operate well for almost any club in the PL. 

We stood by Taylor when he was injured and I think that, while I'd never suggest I feel he "owes us" anything, he could at the very least see out the season in SA1. It's looking more and more likely Laudrup is off to pastures new in the summer, and it's more than possible Tayls could find himself first choice left-back next season if whoever comes in prefers his full-backs to defend rather than gallivanting down the wing.

Fingers crossed his agent doesn't get his wish and spirit him away to London, no matter how much the Cottagers are craving him. See what I did there?

Bolton confirm Swansea interest in David N'Gog

Christ. Dougie Freedman has confirmed we're in for N'Gog, and some sources have quoted him as saying he "expects him to join the Swans". Given our relative superiority over Bolton, it's hard to see him turning the move down - even if he is likely to spend the rest of the season as a super-expensive bench warmer. Why, though? Why do we need him? With Michu coming back to fitness, and Alvaro Vazquez still on loan, why do we need another striker - especially one with a poor track record and who'd command wages of £20k+ a week? It really doesn't make any sense to me, especially given our history of avoiding permanent deals in the January window.

Surely there is someone out there who would fit the bill, but on a loan basis? By signing N'Gog now we're a) automatically paying over the odds given it's the January transfer window, b) filling another squad place with a "non home-grown player" and c) spending money that could be spent in the summer. To me at least, it literally makes no sense. If someone could explain to me how indeed it does make sense, it'd be much appreciated.

In other news...

The Swans have had plans to increase the capacity of the Liberty to 33,000 approved, with the work taking place in stages over the next three years (if everything goes to plan). I'll put together some information and get a blog up related to that later on...

David N'Gog? Rhys Williams? What is going on?

Swansea linked with second Championship player as off-field issues hit the headlines

Well, quite a few days we've had eh? Firstly, there was this: link, the Daily Mail reporting that in a training ground bust-up with Garry Monk, Chico Flores had picked up a brick and it resulted in the police being called. Now, there's since been statements from both players via Twitter and the official site stating that while the police were called, at no point did anyone pick up a brick, so someone's fibbing somewhere. The Mail story was based on the eyewitness account of a mysterious passer by "believed to be the mother of a youth team player". If true, why would someone with a connection to the club do something capable of causing so much instability?

Some have pondered whether the bust-up was perhaps partly fuelled by the rumours that the Swans are in for Rhys Williams, Middlesborough's club captain and an Australian international. Capable of operating anywhere across the back four and at defensive midfield, it's his preference for playing at centre-back which could have caused consternation in the ranks, and with both players reportedly involved in the clash also centre-backs it could be that while it wasn't the main factor, it had added a bit of extra pressure to the situation. No-one likes looking over their shoulder, and with Garry Monk returning to fitness the acquisition of Williams would mean we'd have five centre-backs. Too many? I'd say so, even if Monk's playing career is possibly starting to draw to a close.

Is Rhys Williams any good? Honestly - I don't know too much about him but I can't say I've ever been that impressed. I must have seen him play against the Swans at some point in the Championship but he can't have made an impression, and while Boro at one point fended off a £6million bid from Bolton for their captain his star has fallen somewhat - although he's not been helped by a couple of fairly nasty injuries which have kept him out for months at a time. 

Of late, in fairness, it seems he's playing well despite some Boro' fans comments on Twitter ("You can have him" being the gist of most of them), and last week Middlesborough manager Aitor Karanka (when did that happen?!) denied any knowledge of a Swansea approach for the defender. Make of that what you will, but the figure mooted is £1.5million. Honestly? I don't see the point in signing someone permanently in that position right now. Our defence is almost fully fit, it's defenders we need. Would Rhys Williams be a suitable replacement for any of our midfielders? I can't rule it out, but it seems unlikely.

Moving on... David N'Gog. What? Again? It was depressing enough the first time we were linked with him, so hopefully this is just the press regurgitating something on a slow news day. As @Paulleyshon said on Twitter - "N'Nspiring". Personally I'd rather have Darren Pratley back and stuff him up front than N'Gog, who's shown he's consistently average even at Championship level, and why we'd be in for him I don't know. There must be better options out there than him, and if we aren't exploring any our scouting network needs some work.

Yes we need cover, yes we don't want to break the bank, but unless the players coming in are at least as good as those currently occupying places in the squad then we should go with what we've got. Yesterday I was told we're 5-5-2 against teams in the bottom half of the league, and if true that's indicative that once the fixture list thins out and we get players back from injury, we should be just fine. 

Rhys Williams? Maybe. David N'Gog? No ta.

Who's the mystery striker?

Laudrup promised to bring in a forward today...but who is it?

Over the last week we've seen continued rumours that we could expect to see West Brom's wantaway striker Peter Odemwingie moving to SA1, as well as heavy rumours we have been in for Getafe's Alvaro Vazquez. In the last 24 hours though a new name has emerged, that of Bolton's David N'Gog. 

David N'Gog?! I think most fans would be forgiven for being perhaps a little less than enthused about this one. Maybe Laudrup sees something we don't because at present Bolton are rock bottom of the Championship and the former Liverpool striker is yet to open his account for the season, despite featuring in the last few matches. Even Darren Pratley has scored twice so far - I'd rather see Pratters return than bring in N'Gog!

Out of the three names mentioned above I'd be inclined to lump for Vazquez - assuming Laudrup rates him. I'm basing that purely on not being a big fan of N'Gog or Odemwingie - for differing reasons. N'Gog for me is a footballing decision, and I simply don't rate the guy, whereas Odemwingie made headlines last January for driving to London with the aim of securing himself a move to QPR. Given Huw's continued insistence we only sign players who are committed to the cause, it surely seems unlikely we'll bring in a player who could upset the apple-cart, so to speak. That being said, we did sign Leroy Lita...

Whoever we bring in today, at least it makes deadline day interesting. Long terms fans will be reminiscing of times gone by, where Huw would go play golf and turn his mobile phone off. Ah, those were the days...