Swans fans' forum: excitement, mcburnie and the obvious signing still needed

WE SPOKE TO SOME SWANSEA CITY SUPPORTERS ABOUT THEIR HOPES FOR THE SUMMER AND THEIR VIEWS ON RECRUITMENT SO FAR 17:32, 02 Jun 2025 Swansea City are set for a big summer in the transfer

market there has already been a fair amount to digest on the recruitment front. With January signing Melker Widell set to link up with the squad for the first time, the Swans have also added

Zeidane Inoussa and Bobby Wales to their ranks ahead of the new season. However, there's likely to still be a fair number of items on the recruitment team's to-do list over the

next few weeks. Harry Darling's contract, a possible Oli McBurnie reunion and a squad still demonstrably thin in certain areas. Those are just some of the issues that supporters might

well be pondering right now. _Sign up to the Swansea City WhatsApp service to get breaking news and top stories sent to your phone_ We spoke to a handful of fans to get their thoughts on the

key issues that have already emerged this summer. GUTO LLEWELYN - FORMER WALESONLINE SWANS FAN COLUMNIST HOW HAVE YOU RATED SWANSEA'S BUSINESS SO FAR? Article continues below I think

it's always good when you see clubs doing things early in the window. It suggests they have a plan, which is encouraging after several summers that have seemed quite disorganised and

frantic at times. A lot of them are unknown quantities and that's the same as it was last summer, which is quite nice. It shows we're looking a little outside the box and in new

markets, which I think you have to do because there's not much value in the English market. So looking to Sweden as we've done with Inoussa and Widell and then getting a youngster

in from Scotland in Wales, it seems we're looking in different markets for value, which is what a club the size of Swansea needs to do. I think it will be pretty exciting to see Widell.

He's a bit of an unknown but he's a Swedish international and the fact we signed him in January knowing we couldn't have him until the summer shows we really, really wanted

him, and he's probably going to fill the boots of Lewis O'Brien. So there is perhaps a bit of pressure on him, but it seems that in all likelihood he'll be a really exciting

player to have on board. WHAT STILL NEEDS TO HAPPEN? My big fear from the positive end to last season was that the club would sit back and say 'oh well everything's fine, we

don't need a major overhaul then'. I'm hoping the strong finish under Alan Sheehan doesn't just paper over any cracks because if you look at that squad, it sill looks

remarkably thin, and there are several positions that really need strengthening. There are some positions where we've only really got one option, particularly in defence. We've

realistically only got one senior centre-back. Darling's position is obviously very, very uncertain. But I think the defence is the main area to bolster even if Darling does commit his

future to the club. It's still very, very thin, and I think we were quite lucky last season that we didn't have major injuries at the back. So there's still a lot of work to

do, even though we've had a positive start to the window. THE DARLING SAGA Darling's been really good for us, particularly in the last year and we don't want to lose him. I

think if he stays he has every right to be one of our top earners. But at the same time, there is a wage structure and Swansea can't just promise the world to any player. So if he does

go, it will be disappointing but it won't be surprising. If he does leave, it comes down to just finding the best possible replacement. A MCBURNIE RETURN? I'm all for it. Even

though he's older than when he left and he's not managed to replicate his scoring form with the Swans anywhere else I think he'd still have a lot to offer at Championship

level, and I think there's more to the modern striker now than just scoring goals. He seems to have actually played reasonably well out there in La Liga without scoring a hatful of

goals. But he's been playing regularly even if he hasn't been getting his name on the scoresheet and I think that's because he does actually offer a lot. He's a very

difficult player to play against. I think he's the sort of focal point you could build an attack around. Even if he's not banging in the goals, he's still contributing. Then

again, I still think at Championship level he's still got goals in him. His is a position we've struggled to get right since Joel Piroe left. I think McBurnie could be a useful

player if the figures work for the Swans. STEVE CARROLL, SOS FANZINE HOW HAVE YOU RATED SWANSEA'S BUSINESS SO FAR? It's positive in terms of what's come before. In the past

it's felt like we've been a little reactive over the last few years in terms of getting deals done. To get to deals done early is promising. We've probably done more than most

in the Championship already. I think the Swedish winger Inoussa could be quite exciting. We haven't had a huge amount of flair in the team over the last few years so if he can help out

with that then that would be great. Melker Widell has obviously been included in the Sweden squad, and I know they've maybe been underachieving in recent years, but to have a Swedish

international on board can only be a positive. Then there's the Scottish lad with a brilliant surname! He's perhaps more one for the future, but the positive is we're looking

more to the future and bringing people in that are perhaps going to have a bit of a resale value, which is something we've maybe been lacking in recent years. WHAT STILL NEEDS TO

HAPPEN? I think a new centre-half is urgently needed. We've only got one on the books for this season. I know Darling may yet stay, but my instinct is that he won't. So we're

probably going to need about three new centre-halves if he doesn't stay. There's urgent work to be done and I'm hoping they get on with that. THE DARLING SAGA It sounds like

Swansea have made a decent offer, but the longer it goes on the more unlikely it feels that he'll sign. Every club now knows what division they're going to be in next season, so

there's nothing to wait for on that front. If he leaves it's a shame, but unfortunately if you let players go into the last years of their contract then you're going to have

have trouble. It would be a blow. The first half of the season, him and Cabango did really well, and weren't conceding many goals. But it is what it is now. If he leaves they can't

just replace him, they need a little bit of depth there as well. A MCBURNIE RETURN? I'd be delighted to have Oli back. He's not quite done as well since leaving us, but to be

honest, I don't think he's really a Premier League player or a La Liga player. He hasn't really hit the heights at that level, but in the Championship, if he's made the

main striker, I'd be surprised if he didn't get 15 goals. We do need a little bit of experience as well I think after losing Joe Allen and Kyle Naughton, so he'd be good for

that as well. NIGEL DAVIES - A TOUCH FAR VETCHED FANZINE HOW HAVE YOU RATED SWANSEA'S BUSINESS SO FAR? It's not really the norm for us to do business this early. So it's good

that we've got up and running after the shambles of the January window we had. It feels like there's a little more confidence now that we've put our ducks in a row. I think

all three signings excite me to an extent. The Bobby Wales signing looks like one that's full of potential. It's good to have someone British-based, young and with lots of

potential. He's obviously very ambitious, and it feels like the sort of signing we would have made when we were coming up the leagues. But I guess the caveat, particularly with the ones

from Sweden, is that they may need a season to settle in. We've seen that with Eom Jisung, Zan Vipotnik and Florian Bianchini, all of whom came in and were new to the league. I

don't think we'll have the luxury of doing that again this season. WHAT STILL NEEDS TO HAPPEN? We need the centre-back situation sorted. We need to get some clarity on Harry

Darling and then we'll know if we need to go and get one or two centre-halves that can step in there. If we can keep Darling, and if we can do some sort of deal for O'Brien then

I'd be comfortable going into the season ahead. If we lose Darling and we can't get a deal for O'Brien, it leaves us with a lot of work to be done. They're two

experienced professionals. They know British football, and this level inside out. They've got a lot of experience between them. THE DARLING SAGA It's symptomatic of the way the

club had been run. We were hoping Andy Coleman would learn the lessons of Jason Levien and Jake Silverstein before him, but he didn't and we've ended up in the situation again

where we're not going to get a deal done before the end of the season, and now you've got a player in the prime of his career who is going to have options all over the place. Many

of them will probably have more money than we'll have. It's frustrating and it's disappointing and it's a lesson that I really do hope now that we've learned the

hard way. Sign up to our Swansea City newsletter here. Then again, we've got to draw a line somewhere financially, I don't think we can keep him at all costs. I wouldn't blame

him if he went, for argument's sake, go to a Wrexham or a Birmingham. With a young a family, this might be his one opportunity for a big pay day. I wouldn't blame him for that. A

MCBURNIE RETURN? I really, honestly, don't know. Part of me says yes. He was a really hard worker and got us goals. Linked up well with others around him. He's notorious for being

a big fan of the club too. Article continues below But his last few seasons haven't been prolific for various reasons. Does he fit in with what we're trying to do? Also, if you

push the boat out for him, how does that impact on the rest of the squad strength? It's a difficult one as if he's given a run of games in a Championship side, then I think

there's 10-15 goals in him. But it's about what it does for the rest of our transfer plans. For me, if we're going to push the boat out for anyone, it should be for Darling

and O'Brien.