With the start of the 2016/17 Premier League season less than two weeks away, Premier League correspondent Richard Jolly provides his previews for each club. Here he looks at Swansea City.
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Francesco Guidolin kept Swansea City up last season but it nevertheless came as a surprise that he was granted a new two-year contract: the expectation was that Brendan Rodgers would return to Wales.
Instead, the Italian finds himself with a rebuilding job. Swansea’s reputations for fine decision-making and transfer-market expertise were dented last season as, Andre Ayew apart, the arrivals disappointed and they had three managers in a season.
A takeover by an American consortium is in the process of being completed but so far, it has not brought the manager any more funds.
Indeed, with three strikers — the Euro 2016 final hero Eder, Alberto Paloschi and Bafetimbi Gomis — all leaving and none arriving, they look short of firepower.
There has been a Dutch flavour to the signings, with Leroy Fer joining permanently after a successful loan spell and Mike van der Hoorn providing another option in the centre of the defence.
In Lukasz Fabianski, Ashley Williams, Ki Sung-yueng, Gylfi Sigurdsson and Ayew, Swansea still possess a core with quality but theirs is a slim squad. Guidolin prospered with limited resources at Udinese. He seems to have the same task again.
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Key Man: Gylfi Sigurdsson
Did more than anyone else to prevent relegation, scoring nine league goals in 2016 alone. That kind of form is required again from the influential Icelander, whose set-pieces mean he be the supplier too.
Pivotal Signing: Mike van der Hoorn
Brought in from Ajax to provide competition for Williams and Federico Fernandez in the centre of defence. If the highly-rated Fernandez is sold, he could become a regular.
Point to Prove: Jefferson Montero
Sporadically brilliant but sadly inconsistent, the electric Ecuadorian began last season by eviscerating Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic but his tallies of no goals and two assists for the season were unsatisfactory.
Crucial Factor: The away form
Only the bottom three lost more away games than the Swans (10) last season. Only the bottom four picked up fewer points on the road than them; if they cannot improve upon a measly total of 17, then a season of struggle may beckon.
Predicted finish: 15th
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