With Gylfi Sigurdsson moving to Everton, Swansea City have identified West Brom’s Nacer Chadli and Celtic’s Stuart Armstrong as potential additions.
It’s fair to say the majority of Swansea City forwards are not too enamoured with the idea of replacing Gylfi Sigurdsson with West Brom’s Nacer Chadli.
For a start, Chadli is a winger, rather than a central playmaker like the Icelandic international, and his creative output leaves a lot to be desired. While Sigurdsson produced the second most assists in the Premier League last season, the Belgian scored five and set up another five in 31 games for West Brom.
Therefore, with Sigurdsson finally agreeing a £45 million move to Everton, as reported by the BBC, reports in The Mirror that Swansea will respond by making a £20 million offer for Chadli has raised plenty of eyebrows in South Wales.
Though claims in the Scottish Sun that Celtic dynamo Stuart Armstrong is the new name on Swansea’s wishlist appears to make far more sense.
New name in the frame
The cynics will inevitably point to a perceived lack of quality and competition in the Scottish top flight but a tally of 17 goals and seven assists in all competitions throughout 2016/17 is not to be sniffed at.
And, unlike Chadli, Armstrong is a natural midfielder renowned for his ability to drive forward from deep and his laser-like precision from the edge of the box. The Scottish international may not possess the same surgical set-piece prowess but he shares a number of similarities with soon-to-be Everton’s record signing.
And then you move onto the fee. Armstrong has just a year remaining on his contract at Celtic and, despite the club offering him a new deal, negotiations have stalled.
Therefore, the Scottish Sun reports that Swansea chairman Huw Jenkins is hopeful of agreeing a bargain fee, possibly as low as £6 million.
Just another reason why Armstrong would be a better signing than Chadli.
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