Whatever void Michu may have left by moving to Naples has been filled, perhaps twice over. According to reports out of England, Swansea City is about to add former Swan Gylfi Sigurdsson to its attacking midfield, with Ecuadorian international Jefferson Montero set to join him out wide.
The deals, which are expected to be completed by the middle of the week, will leave manager Garry Monk with a glut of options in attacking midfield. Jonjo Shelvey, Pablo Hernández, Nathan Dyer, and Wayne Routledge were already options at Monk’s disposal. With the acquisitions of Sigurdsson and Montero, however, there’s new competition for starting spots.
That competition doesn’t come without a price. Linked with Tottenham Hotspur for weeks, defender Ben Davies is set to move to North London in a straight swap for Sigurdsson. Starting goalkeeper Michel Vorm is also reportedly going to White Hart Lane in a separate deal, with former Arsenal goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski set to take over.
From The Guardian:Negotiations with Spurs were being finalised on Monday night after several days of talks which paved the way for Sigurdsson to undergo a medical with Swansea. Davies moves to White Hart Lane to become the club’s first-choice left-back.
Vorm’s future has been in doubt ever since Swansea signed Lukasz Fabianski from Arsenal on a free transfer at the end of May. Fabianski agreed a four-year contract at Swansea and made it clear that he was joining to play first-team football. Vorm, who had claimed to be in the dark about Fabianski’s arrival, will join Spurs as understudy to Hugo Lloris.
Montero’s move is expected to cost Swans $6.8 million, a cut-rate that will give Monk a slew of choices; from the raw speed of Dyer and Routledge; to the more all-around skill of Hernández; to the passing of Sigurdsson; to the one-on-one ability of Montero. Particularly if both Wilfried Bony and Bafetimbi Gomis start up top, spots will be scarce in Swansea’s midfield.
But with a new wealth of attacking talent behind the strikers, Swansea may not end up playing Bony and Gomis together; instead, Monk may end up playing something closer to the single-striker set they’ve used over the last few seasons. If they do, Swans will go two deep at all four of their attacking positions.