Old Trafford interest in Llorente?
MANCHESTER United are considering a shock move for ex-Swansea City striker Fernando Llorente.
Reports in Italy are linking the 34-year-old with a move to Old Trafford as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer looks to solve his forward problems.
With Romelu Lukaku edging towards the exit door and their interest in Juventus star Paulo Dybala hitting the buffers, time is running out for United to get players in.
Llorente was released by Spurs at the end of last season after spending two campaigns in North London.
Playing second fiddle to Harry Kane, he was reduced to being a bitpart player for Mauricio Pochettino.
He had joined the Champions League outfit after a successful season in SA1, scoring 15 goals to keep the Swans in the Premier League.
Forming a productive partnership with Gylfi Sigurdsson, Llorente’s strikes helped the club stay in the top flight, but the lure of European football, and presumably substantially higher wages, proved too hard to resist and he joined Tottenham the following summer.
United could sign the Spaniard beyond Thursday’s 5pm deadline due to his free-agent status.
He would join Daniel James, Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Harry Maguire as new signings at Old Trafford.
Meanwhile, Newcastle United boss Steve Bruce is considering a shock move for former Swans and Cardiff defender Steven Caulker.
The 27-year-old is currently plying his trade in Turkey with Alanyaspor.
He has endured a nomadic career to date, which has included two seasons in South Wales with rivals Swansea and Cardiff.
He pitched up in Landore for Swansea’s first campaign in the Premier League, forming a solid partnership with Ashley Williams at the heart of Brendan Rodgers’s defence.
Caulker then moved to Cardiff in an £8m transfer from Tottenham, scoring the winner against Swansea in the 2013 derby in Cardiff.
His career then meandered via QPR, Southampton, Liverpool, Lokomotiv Moscow and Dundee before he arrived in Turkey.
Caulker achieved a cap for England in 2012, scoring on his debut against Sweden.
The Mirror reports that he would be available for just £2m, with Bruce a big admirer of the 6ft 3in man.
MATHEW DAVIES ANDRE Ayew has returned to Swansea having been granted additional time off as a result of his efforts with Ghana at the Africa Cup of Nations.
The striker spent the 2018-19 season on loan with Fenerbahce, scoring five times in 34 appearances for the Turkish giants.
He is currently undergoing a number of routine tests that each player who has been away from the club on loan is required to undertake on their return to Fairwood.
The Swans remain eager to offload the 29-year-old, although finding a suitor has proved difficult given Ayew’s struggles since he made the move back to Swansea in January 2018.
But it appears the door has now been left open for Ayew to return to first-team action with the Swans under Steve Cooper as the club continue to search for a club that will take him off the wage bill.
Today’s 5pm transfer deadline should not be of great concern to the Swans in their quest to remove Ayew from the wage bill given that he is more likely to attract interest from clubs in countries such as France or Turkey where the window remains open until September 2, although he has been linked with a move to Derby County.
But while the hard work continues behind the scenes, there’s every chance Ayew could be re-integrated into the first-team fold, with the outside chance that he could feature for the Swans under their new head coach.
Having sold Oli McBurnie to Sheffield United on the eve of the new campaign, Swansea strengthened their attacking options by bringing in Sam Surridge and Aldo Kalulu on loan from Bournemouth and Basel respectively, with Kristoffer Peterson signing permanently from Heracles.
Talk of a swoop for Burnley’s frontman Nakhi Wells appears to be wide of the mark, so that could well be that for incomings.
McBurnie’s exit did give Borja Baston the opportunity to take the limelight in the season opener against Hull City, with the Spaniard scoring only his second goal for the Swans since becoming the club’s record signing in 2016.
Given that the Swans also have Courtney Baker-Richardson in their ranks, there have been suggestions that Borja is increasingly likely to leave SA1, although that does not appear to be the case.
The club are desperate to cut their ties with Ayew, and they would also offload Borja if possible, although they would be more willing to keep the latter than the former.
Chairman Trevor Birch and Cooper have both spoken openly about how Borja, who netted his first Swansea goal in 1,022 days against Hull, appears destined to remain at the Liberty Stadium this term, while he has also been allocated the No. 9 jersey.
It remains to be seen who will be Cooper’s first-choice striker at Derby this weekend and beyond that fixture at Pride Park.
But the picture has certainly changed in recent weeks, while it could look different again by the end of the month.