Owners issue an apology following Swans’ shambolic transfer window
JASON Levien and Jake Silverstein have issued an apology following Swansea City’s shambolic January transfer window.
Head coach Russell Martin was determined to bolster his squad in the winter market, with a striker and a right-sided defender being key priorities as the Swans looked to enhance their chances of challenging for the Championship play-offs.
Chief executive Julian Winter stated in December that the club were “aiming to be active in the window” and that they were “working hard to improve the squad and look ahead to the second-half of the season”.
But the club failed to sign a single player across the 31 days of the window, despite the fact six left Swansea, including Michael Obafemi.
And ahead of Swansea’s return to action against Birmingham City this afternoon, co-owner Levien and director Silverstein held a Zoom meeting with the club’s Supporters’ Trust to address the transfer window - which ultimately left the club weaker than they were at Christmas.
Levien said: “I think there’s some real frustration that we weren’t able to get some of the deals we had worked on over the line.
“I think it reflects, not a lack of ambition, I think there was a lot of ambition going into the window. I think it reflects more, an inability on the execution side, a little bit of unfortunate outcome that was unrelated to us and you know, being a bit unlucky.
“But there is some real frustration about not delivering more to the squad, which we think is a very strong squad overall but could have used some additions so it’s disappointing. I’m sorry to our fans we weren’t able to do that.
“I do think that we avoided making some mistakes. But really, we deeply wanted to bolster the squad and invest in the squad. We weren’t able, ultimately to get some deals over the line.”
Silverstein confirmed the club were in the market for a right-sided defender with “dynamism and athleticism” in addition to wanting a new striker option.
On those positions, he commented: “We really set out to find both of those players and we had, I think, a pretty thoughtful list that our team and Russell compiled of who our targets were.
“We had a couple of players who we were very focused on even before the window opened.
“I fully expected that we would be sitting here on February 2 talking about the new striker that we’d added, the new right wing-back or right-back that we’d added, and that paired with bringing Morgan Whittaker back we felt would really give the squad the last little bit that we needed, because we don’t think we need much.”
Silverstein - who says more than £16m has been invested into the club since he became involved with the Swans in the summer of 2021 - stated that the club had funds to spend in the January window prior to selling Obafemi to Championship leaders Burnley.
“No, the money was there. We were clear about this,” responded Silverstein when asked if Obafemi had to be sold for players to come in. “We made offers to buy in the first couple of days of the window.”
And on Obafemi specifically, Levien said: “We were reluctant sellers of Michael Obafemi. We thought it was ultimately the right outcome for the club.
“Some of the offers that we made (for targets) were above the asking price that ultimately players transacted at.”
The chiefs later confirmed that the club were scouring the emergency loan goalkeeper and the free agents markets after failing to land any of their desired targets last month which included a goalkeeper following the knee injury sustained by Steven Benda in the 1-1 draw with Queens Park Rangers.
On the window as a whole, Silverstein referenced a record of “0/8” when it came to pursuits of the club’s preferred targets last month, while the duo also addressed Swansea’s financial position.
“It’s a challenge in the economic environment to own an English Championship club and where it’s clear we’re losing money every year,” added Levien. “We use player sales as one source of revenue developing and trading players.”
He went on to add: “We don’t take any money out of the club. We just put it into it. We want to continue putting more in because we think that there’s a real growth opportunity.”
Silverstein added: “We’ve never taken any money out of the club. We’ve never had a dividend. We are not going to do that. We put money in, we keep putting money in.
“I keep putting money in, Steve [Kaplan] keeps putting money in, Jason keeps putting in and our partners keep putting money in. That’s what keeps the lights on, it’s what keeps everyone employed. That coupled with the player sales are what allows the club to continue functioning and not go into administration.”