FOOTBALL SWANS AND BLUEBIRDS LATEST
SWANSEA City’s first-team squad have the second-lowest average length of time left on their deals of the sides in the Premier League, writes IAN MITCHELMORE.
A study conducted by the CIES Football Observatory revealed that Carlos Carvalhal’s players have an average of 1.53 years left on their current deals, with only Crystal Palace (1.50) having a lower average figure than the Swans.
Championship-bound West Brom (1.65) and Burnley (1.96) are the only other sides in the Premier League that have an average contract length of under two years.
Tottenham (3.18) have the highest average number of all of the sides in England’s top tier having seen the likes of Harry Kane and Christian Eriksen sign long-term deals under Mauricio Pochettino.
Man City (2.89), Liverpool (2.85), Southampton (2.81) and Everton (2.79) complete the top five.
A host of Swansea’s first-team players – including Ki Sung-yueng, Leon Britton and Angel Rangel – will see their contracts expire in the summer.
Elsewhere, the likes of Tammy Abraham, Renato Sanches and Andy King will come to the end of their loan spells at the Liberty Stadium.
It means the Swans could once again be set for another big overhaul ahead of the 2018-19 campaign.
In addition to those out of contract this year, the Swans have several key players whose deals with run out at the end of the 2018-19 season.
Among those is striker Wilfried Bony, who only signed a two-year deal when he returned to south Wales from Manchester City last summer after suffering with a string of injury problems, the latest of which will keep him sidelined for the remainder of the current season.
Goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski – who has been with the Swans since 2014 – also sees his deal at the Liberty expire in just over a year along with the likes of Leroy Fer and Martin Olsson.
Highly rated right-back Connor Roberts – who made his Wales debut in March just weeks after making his senior Premier League debut for the Swans – is another whose deal reaches its conclusion next summer along with Scotland international Oli McBurnie who is currently on loan with Championship side Barnsley.
Luciano Narsingh, Wayne Routledge, Mike van der Hoorn, Jordi Amat and Matty Grimes also see their deals run out in the summer of 2019.
Swansea’s situation in terms of players is heavily influenced by their current plight, with uncertainty over which division they’ll be in next season meaning it is difficult to tie up new contracts for players.