These are your Swansea City headlines on Friday, May 6
Martin: Makes sense for owners to back us
Russell Martin says it makes sense for Swansea's owners to back them this summer given their recruitment record at MK Dons.
The head coach spoke at his pre-QPR press conference on Friday and admitted the club would likely have to sell their main assets to balance the books in SA1. That is nothing new, with every summer since Premier League relegation being dominated by player outgoings.
Flynn Downes and Joel Piroe are the crown jewels, and although Martin admitted that finances would dictate decisions, he did urge the American owners to give them money to sign the next stars of the future.
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He said: "I don’t know how much we’ll have. If we are going to be a player trading club, let’s get it right, we spent not much money on Joel and Flynn and now they’re worth a lot.
"For the owners, it makes financial sense to allow us to have a little bit of money to try and do the same again. We recruited brilliantly at MK and the recruitment team have real clarity in what we want. We have to make sure it’s a really positive window. There’ll be a lot of change, but what this year has given us is a real foundation to build on. We’ll try to add some quality, depth, character that we need and certain capabilities that we need to add. If we do that we’ll be in a really good position."
Meanwhile, the boss added that he's not just expecting interest in his star duo this summer. Others, such as Ben Cabango and Michael Obafemi have caught the eye in recent months and Martin believes others will be on shopping lists.
"It makes sense that the players who have played most, the players who are statistically the best players and showed good form and are young enough to be an asset to someone else that logically they’ll be very attractive to other people," he said. "We’ve got a lot of other players who I think will be attractive to other teams.
"We’ll just have to wait and see. What I do know is both players are extremely happy here. They’ve absolutely loved this season here, despite the challenge, they’ve grown a lot. We’re very grateful to them for what they’ve given us. All of that comes into play. It’s not as simple as ‘we have to sell him or him’. We’ve got young men who have grown a huge amount and are enjoying their time here."
Obafemi outlines reasons behind improvement
Michael Obafemi admits he didn't feel like himself in the opening half of his first season with the Swans.
The striker struggled to make an impact after joining from Southampton, with only one of his first 12 appearances being a start. He was dropped from the squad altogether at Bournemouth in November and registered just one goal in his first 14 outings for the club.
But he has excelled in 2022, scoring 11 times in his last 18 Championship appearances. And the striker says the roles of Russell Martin along with that of players including Joel Piroe and Jamie Paterson have been influential in his significant improvement since the turn of the year.
“I’ll be honest and say I don’t think I was really myself over that first half of the season, but the support of the gaffer, the staff and my team-mates really helped and I think you can see the difference it has made," he told the club website. “I’ve worked hard and my understanding with the lads like Pato and Joel has just grown and grown.
“We have been getting used to working with each other and that goal just showed what we can do. I hope the only way is up from here.”
Ex-Swans let go
Tom Carroll and Erwin Mulder are both set to be free agents in the summer.
Midfielder Carroll spent just one season with Ipswich Town and has been released having made 17 appearances for the Tractor Boys. As for goalkeeper Mulder, he is set to leave Heerenveen for the second time in his career.
Mulder re-joined the Dutch outfit in the summer of 2020 after being let go by the Swans and captained the side he played for prior to his move to Swansea in 2017.
Technical manager Ferry Haan said: “Erwin has done well here in the past two seasons and after a nasty injury fought his way back into the team. However, with an eye to the future, we felt that we had to make a different choice now. There are at least three games left on the schedule. We are confident that we will end the season well together and of course wish Erwin a great next step in his career.”
Finances explained
The release of Swansea's latest financial accounts have firmly put the spotlight on the position the club currently finds itself in.
The 38-page dossier published on Companies House serves as a timely reminder as to just how difficult a remit Martin and his staff signed up for when they joined from MK Dons last summer. The head coach himself recently admitted his reign in south Wales so far has felt like "pushing a rock uphill".
The owners have spoken about the club's current predicament. "The directors are committed to facilitating the provision of funding necessary for investment in players, coaches and management to ensure the team is competitive," read a segment of the strategic report, signed off by chief executive Julian Winter, on the club's latest accounts. It went on to add: "However, this funding is dependent on player trading and/or external investment."
