SWANS BOSS CLEMENT IS LOOKING FOR A LEADER LIKE JT
PAUL Clement has admitted Swansea City need a John Terry or a Sergio Ramos to survive – but says it’s more about finding a leader than a defensive lynchpin.
Swansea are still searching for rearguard reinforcements in the final weeks of the transfer window, with a defender a priority despite Clement’s reluctance to publicly admit as much.
The Swans have shipped the most goals in the division leaving many in no doubt where – after spending £12m-plus so far on three new arrivals – remaining January funds need to be spent.
But Clement reckons more important will be finding a new rock to replace Ashley Williams in terms of his ability to rally a team rather than simply a centre-back.
And he has cited high-profile examples from his former clubs as a pointer of the difference they can make having worked with Terry at Chelsea, Ramos at Real Madrid and Zlatan Ibrahimovic at Paris Saint-Germain.
The former Bayern Munich No.2 said: “It is an important area to find someone who has that presence and leadership qualities from a psychological point of view, from an organisational point of view – but that is important in any number of positions, not just defenders.
“That is true of a goalkeeper, a central midfield player and you would like to think you would have 11 leaders out there and, in my opinion, it is become increasingly rare in football now to have those figures.
“These characters like a John Terry or a Sergio Ramos, a Zlatan Ibrahimovic. I have worked at lots of big clubs and they are the ones that stand out for me. They are not easy to find though, these kind of players with confidence and ability to not only do their own job, but to help others around them.”
It is a challenge Swansea and Clement faces over the next two weeks as the hunt goes on for further recruits. Swansea have already a number of targets but have seen hopes to get deals done early frustrated as other clubs wait to do their own buniness.
And it’s left Clement admitting he may have to wait until the last minute to land the remaining signings he needs. The new Swans boss has already splashed out more than £12m in a trio of transfer deals during his first few weeks at the Liberty, bringing in PSV winger Luciano Narsingh, Norwich fullback Martin Olsson and Tottenham midfielder Tom Carroll.
Swansea do not play again after their weekend trip to Anfield to take on Liverpool until welcoming Southampton to South Wales on the final day of January business, and Clement admitted: “A lot can affect whether you can do those deals and some of those things may run until end of window.”
He stayed tight-lipped on links to Everton striker Arouna Kone and want-away Leicester striker Leonardo Ulloa, though did rule out the possibility of Wayne Routledge or Federico Fernandez leaving this window after Birmingham and West Brom both declared interest.
Swansea were able to move quickly to land Narsingh, Olsson and Carroll with the three thought to be on transfer wishlists ahead of Clement’s arrival to replace Bob Bradley at the start of the month.
But he has backed the trio to make the impact the side needs, denying the deals were done as part of planning for life in the Championship.
Clement said: “Tom is a real good footballer and he fits in with the style we want to develop here. He has good experience of playing at a high level with Spurs but it has come at the right stage of his career to play more regularly.
“And Martin is someone I worked with at Blackburn, I know what he can offer and what his character is like. He has experience of this level, the level below and international football.
“I would say, 90 to 95 per cent of my thinking is I want players to have an impact now. It would be naive not to think beyond that from economical point of view.
“As I said before. My goals are more short term than talking about staying up. The talk will be about survival but I am trying to improve the team in the short term; the players are putting plenty of energy in, I can see improvements and it is about being more consistent and improving again against Liverpool.”
Carroll and Olsson are both in contention to play at Anfield, but Narsingh is unlikely to feature as he seeks to recover from a minor calf injury suffered in his final days with PSV Eindhoven..