New season starts here... How Swansea’s pre-season diary is shaping up
THE high of survival hasn’t long subsided in Swansea, the roar of relief in those final weeks still fresh in the memory.
But if the planning for life after near disaster started as soon as the whistle blew on the 2016/17 campaign, so now things are about to step up a notch or two as Paul Clement aims to keep alive hope of a far brighter and better season for Swansea City.
Clement has already had the vast majority of his squad back in through the doors at Fairwood, the club’s multi-million pound training base in the Gower, but this week marks the beginning of the action as Swansea face their first pre-season friendly for Wednesday’s trip to Barnet.
And then phase two kicks in as the side fly to the United States for an intense three-game trip, all being done to make sure there are no excuses come the big kick-off against Southampton on August 12 – less than five weeks from now.
And though the fine details are being kept under lock and key, this is how Swansea’s pre-season breaks down: Monday, July 10 Clement and his staff – including two new appointments in ex-Swans pro Jordan Smith and former Tottenham man Eddie Lattimore to support head of physical performance Karl Halabi – will welcome his squad back into Fairwood. The numbers will include the internationals Kristoffer Nordfeldt, Martin Olsson, Lukas Fabianski and Gylfi Sigurdsson, granted a delayed start to pre-season after being involved in international qualifiers in early June. The capped quartet caught up with their medical testing on Friday, something the rest of the squad underwent at the start of last week before getting out on the grass.
Clement won’t be afraid to have the balls out in the early days and will continue with a meticulously planned arrangement over the first two days of the week. Wednesday, July 12 Swansea will travel to Barnet on Wednesday morning ahead of their game at The Hive that evening, where Alfie Mawson is expected to link up with the squad following his involvement with England in the recent European Under-21 tournament. A full squad will be available for the game, though Clement will not risk any injuries with the aim to start amassing ‘football fitness’ before the squad stay overnight in London. Thursday, July 13 The team will fly to Philadelphia from Heathrow ahead of their 11-day stay in the States. As well as any fringe players possibly on the verge of exits, Ki Sung-Yueng will not travel as he nurses a knee injury back in his native South Korea, while a decision will be made on whether Fernando Llorente is able to join the squad as he recovers from a fractured arm.
The flight will last eight hours with sports science staff also having to factor in a five-hour time difference as they calculate recovery from the journey. A training session the evening the squad land at their arranged local facilities is designed to aid that. Friday, July 14 The first of a number of double sessions that Clement’s men will undertake, sessions in both the morning and afternoon comprising of both fitness and football preparation as the hard yards really go in. Clement will also use the time to spell out aims for the season while ensuring the team spirit that played such a big part in survival is not ignored. Saturday, July 15 Swansea will train in the morning before resting ahead of a game against MLS side Philadelphia Union that evening at the 18,500 Talen Energy Stadium. Again, Clement will weigh up decisions over whether to split his