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Carlos Carvalhal becomes Swansea's fifth manager in two years just four days after Sheffield Wednesday axe
Swansea City have surprisingly appointed Carlos Carvalhal as their new head coach just four days after he left the Championship club Sheffield Wednesday.
The 52-year-old Portuguese will take charge until the end of the season – with an option to stay on longer – as Swansea desperately battle against Premier League relegation.
Following the sacking of Paul Clement, Carvalhal becomes Swansea’s fifth manager in two years, with the club having been determined to make an appointment before the January transfer window opens.
Carvalhal took training yesterday morning, after a deal was agreed on Wednesday evening, before being presented to the media ahead of his first match, away to Watford on Saturday.
The focus will be on what transfer deals Swansea can complete, with the club accepting that serious mistakes have been made in the past few windows.
However Carvalhal said he had not yet discussed plans with chairman Huw Jenkins and even claimed that taking the job appealed to his “romantic side”. “I deal with footballers,” he said. “If we need separate players I will try and choose them but the money is not what I want to talk about, I am allergic to money.”
West Ham United are planning to bid for defender Alfie Mawson but Swansea are unlikely to sell for less than £25 million, while their priority is to bring in more creative players, including another striker, having lost their main goal threats last summer when they sold Gylfi Sigurdsson and Fernando Llorente.
Carvalhal will also attempt to rebuild the confidence of Renato Sanches, the Portuguese midfielder on loan from Bayern Munich, who has struggled at Swansea. “I think he [Sanches] needs confidence, we can sometimes forget he is still a kid, he is learning,” Carvalhal said. “He needs a role in the team and time to understand the roles everyone has. He will be involved in the dynamic and, when he understands what we want, he can be a big player for this team.”
The 52-year-old has managed 14 clubs in four different countries, including at Sporting Lisbon and Besiktas, but was let go by Sheffield Wednesday after the weekend defeat at home to Middlesbrough, who also sacked their manager Garry Monk on Saturday, appointing Tony Pulis.
Swansea had hoped to make an even quicker appointment and considered a number of candidates following Clement’s sacking including the Dutch trio of former Manchester United manager Louis Van Gaal, Ronald Koeman – both of whom are understood to have turned them down – and Frank de Boer along with former West Ham United manager Slaven Bilic.
Carvalhal took Wednesday to the play-offs twice, losing in the final to Hull City and then in the semi-finals to Huddersfield Town. He has long impressed Swansea, who have followed up their interest despite his struggles this season.
Swansea discussed appointing Carvalhal when they sacked Garry Monk two years ago – hence they can justify departing from their original plan of wanting a manager with Premier League experience - and he is adamant that, despite being five points adrift of safety, he can keep them up.
“In this moment, maybe if you ask 100 people who follow football, they will say Swansea are going to get relegated,” the new manager said. “This is the general idea. Maybe some people will say we need a miracle. But when things are in the hands of me, it’s not a miracle you need. It’s in our hands and we can manage things. We don’t need divine help.”
Player-coach Leon Britton has been in temporary charge of the top flight’s bottom club since Clement’s sacking and his future role is yet to be defined, although he is expected to remain at the club.