Stadium: The Liberty Stadium (capacity: 20,827)
Manager: Garry Monk (3rd season)
Nickname: The Swans
2014-15 Record: 56 points (16-8-14), 8th in the Premier League
20 Premier League Previews in 20(ish) Days: Swansea City
Wales’ first ever club to play in the Premier League has become one of the most interesting quick success stories out there
Consider that in the 2007-08 seasom the Swans were playing in the third tier of English football: League One and in 2013 they played in the UEFA Europa League against some of the best teams in Europe. That’s an unbelievable rise and the Swans have done it without spending an unbelievable amount of money or getting lucky on a player who’s a once in a generation talent.
The Swans have for the most part bought players for reasonable fees and even when bigger clubs come swooping in for their players they’ve made a healthy profit on the sales of said players. Take for example striker Wilfried Bony who joined Swansea from the Dutch club Vitesse in 2013 for £12 million and scored 34 goals in 70 appearances before moving to Manchester City for £28 million in January. That was a healthy £16 million profit that can be invested in transfers and an already well-regarded academy.
Another key to the Swans’ success has been an identity that is more tiki-taka and Barcelona than you would ever expect from a South Wales club. They are consistently one of the best passing sides in the Premier League and use this deliberate, ball-control style with incredible efficacy.
This style came from current Everton manager Roberto Martinez who managed the Swans from 2007-09 and laid a lot of the groundwork for the rise to the Premier League and current style of play.
Another current manager on Merseyside, Liverpool’s Brendan Rodgers, managed the Swans from 2010-12. In that time they earned promotion to the Premier League and finished 11th in their first season in the top flight.
One man who is intimately familiar with the Swans’ rise is current manager Garry Monk, who played for the club from 2004-14 and made 226 appearances mainly as a centre back before replacing Michael Laudrup as manager in February 2014.
Coming off last season’s 8th place finish in the Premier League, the Swans have kept that team together and made some additions in the summer transfer window. This is a year in which they hope to challenge for the 6th-7th place spots that’ll get them back into the Europa League.
New Faces: André Ayew- winger (Marseille), Franck Tabanou- left back/left midfielder (Saint Étienne), Eder- striker (Braga), Kristoffer Nordfeldt- goalkeeper (SC Heerenveen)
While some teams buy players from places like France, Portugal and the Netherlands with the intention of developing them slowly the Swans have bought four guys in the prime of their careers who are ready to immediately contribute.
Kristoffer Nordfeldt, a former Sweden U21 international, started 123 matches from 2011-15 for Heerenveen in the Dutch Eredevisie. Last season Nordfeldt kept 10 clean sheets in 38 total appearances and Heerenveen finished in 7th place. He will likely be a solid number two with the Swans behind the incumbent Lukasz Fabianski this coming season.
André Ayew is the not the only member of his immediate family to go from the French Ligue 1 to the Premier League this summer. His younger brother Jordan joined Aston Villa from FC Lorient just over a week ago, while André joined the Swans in early June. The elder Ayew joined Marseille as a youth player in 2005 and spent his entire senior career up there up to this point. In four of his last five seasons he has scored 10+ goals and scored 11 goals in 29 appearances last season. Finally he also has made 62 appearances and scored 11 goals for the Ghana national team.
Franck Tabanou has spent the past five seasons as a regular starter at both Toulouse and Saint Étienne, mainly as a left back. Tabanou came up through the Toulouse youth system and made his professional debut with them in 2008 and made 138 appearances (15 career goals) before moving to Saint Étienne in 2013. Tabanou also played in the Europa League in each of his two seasons at Saint Étienne.
The mononymic Eder has been a regular in the Portuguese top flight: the Primeira Liga, since 2008 with Académica and played the last three seasons with Braga. Eder is simply from watching highlights a solid poacher of goals. This past season was his best as a professional and he scored 13 goals in 35 appearances. He also has 18 appearances with the Portugese national team and scored his first national team goal in June during a friendly against Italy.
Familiar Faces: Ashley Williams- centre back (39 appearances), Gylfi Siggurðson- attacking midfielder (9 goals in 35 appearances), Neil Taylor- left back (36 appearances), Jefferson Montero- winger (1 goal in 30 appearances), Lukasz Fabianski- goalkeeper (38 appearances), Bafetimbi Gomis- striker (10 goals in 37 appearances), Jonjo Shelvey- central midfielder (3 goals in 35 appearances)
Since February’s sale of Wilfried Bony to Manchester City, no player who played a significant amount in 2014-15 has departed.
Swansea is not a terribly young team. They are not bereft of young talent mind you, but they have a lot of guys in their late 20’s or early 30’s who are right now in the absolute prime of their careers. Newcastle has a transfer policy that they will only sign players under 26 years old and Swansea seems to have an only players aged 26-31 transfer policy.
Of course this is a gross exaggeration as there are guys in the first team who were signed as young men or even came up through the Swansea youth system. But the Swans have a very good track record in the past several years signing guys in that age bracket who have been key contributors.
Bafetimbi Gomis was a consistent goal scoring threat in Ligue 1 with Saint Étienne and Lyon (140 combined goals), and found scoring in the Premier League a lot harder in his first season with the Swans. Gomis’ 10 goals last season was his lowest total since 2005-06, but by the end of the season he started to look more comfortable against Premier League competition. For example, he scored four of his seven Premier League goals in the last nine matches of the season, which is a definite positive trend.
From the moment he arrived from Tottenham Hotspurs Gylfi Siggurðson was a revelation last season. The Icelanic international, who mainly plays as an attacking midfielder behind the striker, was always a threat to score and his 9 goals in all competitions was his best since scoring 10 for Hoffenheim in 2010-11.
Despite being on average younger than most of his teammates, 23 year old midfielder Jonjo Shelvey is as much of a veteran as any of his teammates. After all Shelvey debuted as a professional for Charlton Athletic in the Championship just after his 16th birthday in 2008 and has made at least 20 appearances in every season since. Although he’s perpetually one reckless foul away from getting sent off or a yellow card accumulation, Shelvey has surprising technical ability and can occasionally score (39 career goals).
Nathan Dyer has been a mainstay since arriving in 2009 from Southampton and has 248 appearances with the Swans in that time.
One of the most enjoyable players to watch you have not heard of is Ki Sung-yeung. The central midfielder has an unmatched work rate and like all of his Swans’ teammates is an excellent passer. Ki is also the captain of the South Korean national team.
Both left back Neil Taylor and centre back Ashley Williams have been the subject of interest and bids from other clubs in the Premier League. But the Swans have made it a priority to keep both of their Welsh International defensemen in their home country. Williams in fact is the captain of both the Swans and the Welsh national team. The tandem of Taylor and Williams have made a combined 331 appearances.
Finally, Lukasz Fabianski looked every bit as good as his former Arsenal teammates and appeared in 37 of the Swans’ 38 Premier League matches after only occasionally featuring in North London from 2007-14. Fabianski got a chance to exact revenge on his former employers in a 1-0 win over Arsenal in May that was one of the Gunners’ few losses in 2015.
Completely Unscientific, Somewhat Unbiased Prediction: 10th place
The middle of the Premier League table is going to be ridiculously competitive this year, which I feel like I’ve written in every preview so far. Putting Swansea at 10th is not a knock on what is a good team that has the ideal amount of experience and skill. The difference between the teams in 7th or 8th place and even 12th or 13th I expect will be quite narrow.
The style Swansea plays where they slow the game down and don’t give up ball much is absolute torture for teams that don’t pass the ball well and rely on counter attacking, which is a decent percentage of the league.
Gomis had really started to make the adjustment from France by the end of last season. The prospect of facing a veteran goal scorer who has started to figure out how to play in the Premier League should be a scary one.
The club brought in four veterans from good European leagues during the summer who are coming in expecting some measure of playing time. I almost wonder who Garry Monk will take off the pitch to get on the likes of Eder, André Ayew and Franck Tabanou.
This is a good veteran team that knows its identity and will likely make me look silly for even considering them to be the 10th best Premier League team this year.
LONDON, ENGLAND – MAY 11: Bafetimbi Gomis of Swansea City scores the first goal as goal line technology rules the ball to cross the line despite David Ospina of Arsenal making a save during the Barclays Premier League match between Arsenal and Swansea City at Emirates Stadium on May 11, 2015 in London, England. (Photo by Jamie McDonald/Getty Images)
