The deals Swansea City could revisit in January as Leeds United starlet left in transfer limbo
There were a couple of moves Swansea couldn’t quite pull off on what was otherwise a highly successful transfer deadline day
Swansea City enjoyed an unprecedented level of activity in this summer transfer window.
Indeed, this was their biggest window in terms of incoming players since their return to the Championship. In total, 13 players came through the door, eight of which did so on a permanent deal.
Boss Michael Duff will be hoping he now has the tools to help kickstart Swansea’s floundering season, having seen his side amass just two points from their opening five games.
Incredibly, there’s a chance the club could have had more new faces on board, with a couple of a deals not coming off on deadline day.
The capture of Bashir Humphreys suddenly looked back on during the final few hours of the window, but Duff was still nevertheless keen on further strengthening his backline options with another centre-back.
Ronnie Edwards, a highly-rated youngster at Peterborough United, was seen as a potential option. Swansea are understood to have launched two bids on deadline day, but were knocked back in their advances. The value of those bids isn’t yet clear, nor is there any clarity over whether the arrivals of Humphreys and Kristian Pedersen, who can also play more in the heart of the defence, had any effect on their interest.
If they decide to revisit in January, however, they are likely to come up against some stiff competition. Indeed, before testing the waters with a bid, the 20-year-old was the subject of a failed approach from Premier League side West Ham United.
Peterborough are clearly keen to keep hold of the player, and with his current deal running until 2025, they may well feel they’re in a good position to negotiate a sizeable fee. For that reason alone, he could well be a target that’s just out of reach come January.
Edwards wasn’t the only player at the centre of an alleged failed bid from the Swans on deadline day, though.
Reports in south Yorkshire claim the Swans were set to blow Sheffield Wednesday’s loan approach for Blackburn Rovers star John Buckley out of the water with a bid worth £3m. Sources at Swansea played down those reports, and there’s no indication of of such a bid being made. Regardless, our colleagues at LancashireLive claim Rovers weren’t interested in a permanent sale.
Buckley ended up with the Owls after all, joining on a season-long loan, meaning the chance of Swansea, assuming they are indeed interested, making a swoop in January appears slim.
One midfielder who was seemingly on the radar was Leeds United’s Darko Gyabi. The youngster was the subject of a £5m bid from French side Valenciennes, but it appears the Whites were reluctant to sanction a permanent exit until the club got deals for Iliav Gruev and Glen Kamara over the line.
Reports elsewhere claimed the Swans had made an approach to take the midfielder on loan, but a move never materialised. It’s understood that the Swans never actually made a concrete offer, although there was at least a tentative level of interest in the 19-year-old, who’s now been left in something of a state of limbo having stayed in west Yorkshire beyond the deadline.
Boss Daniel Farke has significantly strengthened his midfield options too, meaning Gyabi is even further down the pecking order. An exit in January could well be a possibility. Whether Swansea might be tempted to make a move happen remains to be seen.
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