Your Swansea City headlines for Friday, August 5.
Defender clarifies Burnley interest
Joel Latibeaudiere says he was always intent on returning to Swansea City this summer amid links to Burnley.
The defender has just entered the final year of his contract with the Swans and was touted as a potential transfer target for the Clarets - who are now managed by former Manchester City player Vincent Kompany. Latibeaudiere joined Swansea from the Etihad Stadium outfit two years ago, but admits a reunion with the Belgian was never on the cards this summer.
"Not that I know of," he said when asked if there was any truth to the Burnley links. "I just assume that people put Vincent Kompany going in and me being at Man City together. I was always coming back here and I've just been keeping my head down here."
And when asked if he was hopeful of signing a new deal with Swansea in the future, Latibeaudiere said: "Yeah, maybe in the upcoming weeks, but I feel like, it's the start of the season, we just needs to focus on that. That's where my head is at at the minute."
Goalkeeper situation clarified
Swansea are unlikely to make further changes to their goalkeeper department this summer.
Ben Hamer was released following the expiration of his contract while Archie Matthews and Remy Mitchell were both drafted in to the club's under-21s. Steven Benda had widely been expected to depart the club this summer given his lack of first team action, although he has been unable to secure an exit from the Swansea.com Stadium.
And following Lewis Webb's loan switch to Aberystwyth Town, Russell Martin does not anticipate any further alterations regarding goalkeepers in the final weeks of the transfer window.
"One of the reasons for bringing Archie in, he's a really good goalkeeper and he's had a bit of Football League experience already, and Dean [Thornton] has worked with him before," said Martin.
"Having four goalkeepers meant that one of them could go out and play football. Webby went on loan last season but only ended up playing three games so he didn't get out of it what we needed to. If Webby is going to have any chance of playing here in the long-term or in senior football, he just needs games now. He's at an age where he hasn't really played senior football.
"I think Aberystwyth will be a really good loan for him, a good standard and a good test. We'll assess it in the coming months. Deano will watch all of his clips, go through them with him and he'll train with us full-time still which is the ideal situation really.
"He'll train with us, train with them once a week and play for them. It's perfect really. It means we've got Archie as third choice at the minute if anything happens to any of the other guys."
Swansea's reality hitting home
Russell Martin admits the reality of Swansea's financial situation is firmly hitting home amid their struggles to make more signings.
The Swans have recruited Harry Darling, Matty Sorinola, Joe Allen and Nathan Wood this summer but are determined to further bolster their squad before the September 1 deadline. But they desperately need to offload players in the coming weeks, and Martin says his team have to adopt a different approach in their quest to gain promotion into the Premier League.
“The reality is there’s no parachute payments. Because we were in the Premier League fairly recently, I think outside here, there’s this expectation and suggestion that we’re still really up there in terms of financial power – what we spend on players, what we invest in wages. We're just not," he admitted.
“That’s why we have to do it differently. We’re not going to be out there signing seasoned professionals. Joe [Allen] is an exception because of his connection to the club and how much he wanted to come back. It wasn’t a financial decision for him at all, because if it was he wouldn’t be here.
“We knew that when we were coming in. Maybe people turned this job down before we came because of the limitations they were going to have financially. But it’s a challenge we have embraced. We know what we have to work with, we try to do the very best we can within that.
“We know what we have to work with. There’s no frustration. It’s not something we get stressed about or worked up about. It’s a really exciting challenge for us, but I think everyone just needs to be aware of that.
READ MORE: Swansea City press conference updates as Russell Martin gives team news updates and transfer latest
Blackburn wary of Swans threat
Lewis Travis is expecting a tough test from Swansea when Blackburn Rovers travel to south Wales this weekend.
The Swans beat Rovers 1-0 on home turf last season courtesy of a Michael Obafemi header. And Blackburn man Travis believes the Swans will be an even tougher prospect this time around having had a full year under the coaching staff.
“It’s a very tough place to go," he told RoversTV. “We went there last season and I remember it was their first campaign under the new manager.
“He’s had loads of time to implement his style of play and it will be a tough test for us. We start as we mean to go on and got an opening day win against a good side with a very good coach in the form of QPR.
“I don’t see why we can't get into the top six and do better than we did last season.”
Speaking about Swansea, Blackburn boss Jon Dahl Tomasson said: "They are a possession side, they want to play on the ball and are extremely good on the ball, with good movement. In football you need to be flexible, you need to have a good game plan based on how you can win games and how you can lose games."
Kick-off at the Swansea.com Stadium is at 3pm on Saturday.
READ NEXT:
- Swansea City striker set for loan exit as Sheffield Wednesday and Oxford United emerge as frontrunners
- Swansea City press conference updates as Russell Martin gives team news updates and transfer latest
-
Get the latest Swansea City news and stories into your inbox every day for FREE!
-
Your chance to win the new 2022/2023 Swansea City home shirt
