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Swansea 2017/18 Premier League season preview: Will losing big name stars define the Swans' season?

Can Paul Clement see the Swans safe from relegation again?

Jack Austin
Tuesday 08 August 2017 12:06 BST
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Can Clement continue Swansea's end of season form?
Can Clement continue Swansea's end of season form?

What’s changed?

Not much. Most of the change for Swansea happened during the season last time around as they went through three managers, with the last one, Paul Clement, saving them from relegation.

As with all other summers, the Swans are desperately clinging onto their best players as Everton and Chelsea swarm around Gylfi Sigurdsson and Fernando Llorente respectively.

However, they haven’t strengthened too much either and that could prove to be their downfall if the answer to ‘what’s changed?’ is the same come the end of the transfer window.

It was Llorente's 15th goal of the season

Who’s in?

Just the three players have arrived in South Wales so far this summer, much to the disappointment of the Swansea faithful.

Midfielder Roque Mesa is the most expensive man in at the Liberty, and the only one they have paid a transfer fee for, after his £10.6m move from La Liga side Las Palmas.

The most exciting move is the loan signing of 19-year-old Tammy Abraham after his impressive season in the Championship last season, where he scored 23 league goals for Bristol City. The Chelsea player will be looking to make a name for himself after opting for Swansea over the long list of clubs looking to borrow his services for the forthcoming season.

Goalkeeper Erwin Mulder, a free transfer from Heerenveen is the final signing so far but unlikely to make many appearances.

Who’s out?

The biggest loss so far is Jack Cork to Burnley, while Bafetimbi Gomes has been eventually sold to Galatasaray.

Jordi Amat and Borja Baston have headed back to La Liga on loan while Madou Barrow joined Reading permanently and Gerhard Tremmel retired.

Swans will be hoping the names of Sigurdsson and Llorente don’t appear under this section before the transfer window’s end, however.

How are they going to line up?

Their current best XI would look like:

Lukasz Fabianski, Kyle Naughton, Alfie Mawson, Federico Fernandez, Martin Olsson, Roque Mesa, Tom Carroll, Leroy Fer, Gylfi Sigurdsson, Tammy Abraham, Fernando Llorente.

What’s the one big question that must be answered?

Can Swansea keep their best players this summer?

Gylfi Sigurdsson's future remains up in the air

That question will define their season. If they can, they can kick on from the end of last season and establish themselves in that group of teams in the bottom half of the table. But if not…

What’s the best that could happen?

The best-case scenario is keeping both Sigurdsson and Llorente and bringing in a few more established Premier League names. A good start could see them stave of relegation and try to climb the ladder of chaos to around 13th or 12th in the league.

What’s the worst that could happen?

Lose Sigurdsson, lose Llorente, lose games, lose Premier League status.

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