Last week was a good one for Swansea City. Despite speculation linking Gylfi Sigurdsson with a move away from the Liberty Stadium, the Iceland international penned a new four-year deal with the Swans. Everton and Premier League champions Leicester had both shown an interest in the Icelandic international, so his decision to extend his stay in Wales came as a boost to the club.
On Friday evening, meanwhile, the club confirmed the signing of Fernando Llorente from Sevilla. The World Cup winning frontman was deemed surplus to requirements by new Sevilla head coach Jorge Sampaoli, with Swansea understandably acting quickly to bring him to England. The 31-year-old ‘s form has dipped worryingly in recent seasons, but Swansea are now hoping they can bring out the best in the experienced Spaniard following his capture.
Indeed, four goals and three assists was hardly the best return from Llorente in 23 La Liga appearances last season, but he remains an astute signing for Swansea. All in all, Llorente’s arrival will have seen a number of supporters breathe a huge sigh of relief. Already this summer, Alberto Paloschi and Bafetimbi Gomis have been shown the Liberty Stadium exit, moving to Atalanta and Marseille respectively.
Andre Ayew’s move to West Ham on Monday significantly weakens Swansea’s attack further. The Ghana star earned rave reviews for an impressive start to life in England and netted more goals (12) than any other Swansea teammate. However, a £20.5m offer from the Hammers was one Swansea found too hard to refuse, especially as they could use the money gained to pump back into the squad.
Llorente is the first striker to move to the Liberty Stadium this summer, with a deal for compatriot Borja Baston expected to be concluded in the coming days. The 23-year-old looks set to sign for the Swans for a club-record £15m after an impressive season-long loan spell with Eibar. Indeed, Borja directly contributed to 21 of Eibar’s 49 goals (42.9%) in La Liga last season, with his 18 league strikes the 10th best return in Spain’s top tier last term.
While Llorente and Borja’s styles of play differ to that of Ayew, they both offer a different dimension to exploit, which explains the club’s pursuit of the pair. Llorente would largely be maximised as the target man for Swansea in the coming campaign. Standing at 6’5”, he boasts the necessary physical attributes to succeed in England’s top tier. With a statistically calculated WhoScored style of play of ‘likes to do layoffs’, a player of his size can hold off opponents to bring teammates into play with relative ease.
This is a boost to the club’s widemen and those operating behind Llorente to create goalscoring opportunities to help hurt the opposition. Meanwhile, with a player of Borja’s efficiency in front of goal playing alongside him, the Spanish pair have the potential to form a destructive partnership for Swansea. Guidolin during the second half of the season experimented with a two-man strike partnership and could explore a 4-3-1-2 formation once more this coming campaign, with Sigurdsson deployed behind Llorente and Borja.
While the duo don’t offer the same ability to pull to the wings as Ayew does, Borja maximises his physical traits to make runs in behind the defence, which could prove to be an effective route to goal. The young frontman was often in the right place at the right time for Eibar last season to put the opposition defence to the sword. While he’s not one to provide for others having averaged just 0.5 key passes per game in La Liga last season, his duty in a potential two-man strike partnership would be to get his shots away. With that in mind, an average of 2.6 shots per league game last term was better than any Swansea player.
Provided the chances are created for him, then Borja has the ability to find the back of the net regularly, noted that ‘finishing’ is the player’s only statistically calculated WhoScored strength. With Llorente holding up the ball adequately and spreading the play wide, dropping the ball into one of the midfielders or turning creator for Borja, the pair have the potential to forge an efficient partnership. Even if Guidolin opts for a sole striker, both players have the ability to lead the line with aplomb.
Eibar mostly played with a system that adopted a lone frontman in La Liga last season, with Borja accustomed to the demands that come with spearheading the attack. Llorente, meanwhile, boasts the attributes to flourish in a 4-2-3-1, should Guidolin adopt the system, particularly if Swansea implement a more direct approach. Despite playing in Serie A for two seasons, only Cristiano Ronaldo (41) and Aduriz (34) have scored more headed goals than Llorente (29) in the last seven La Liga seasons. If crosses are put into the box for Llorente, he has the heading ability to wreak havoc in the opposition box, be it through creating for others or going for goal himself.
While Swansea can cover the losses of Paloschi and Gomis, Ayew’s departure is a blow. The arrivals of Llorente and Borja, though, ease the latter’s exit from the club and despite being different players altogether, the Spanish pair will boost Guidolin’s attacking options significantly.
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