Vive La January Revolution

Brendan Rodgers has donned his very best beret and is currently overseeing a January transfer window revolution of Che Guevara proportions as he looks to reshape his squad for the rest of the Premier League season.

Three incoming players have already been signed and sealed, a fourth is due to be ratified after the weekend and now we have the first high profile departure with the news that David Cotterill has been paid off.

Okay, so two of the new players are firmly within the category of “Ones for the Future” but Rory Donnelly and Darnel Situ are both young and talented lads that have every chance of fulfilling their massive potential under Rodgers, one of the best in the business at developing young players.

The third confirmed capture, Gylfi Sigurdsson, has already given glimpses of what he can bring to the Swans party having completed a cameo in the FA Cup victory over Barnsley. Sigurdsson is very good on the ball, has an efficient set piece and, crucially, gets goals from midfield – something we have been lacking since the loss of Ferrie Bodde.

Personally, it doesn’t matter who else may or may not sign in the transfer window…Sigurdsson’s signature on a loan deal until the end of the season will be the best bit of business done as he gives us exactly what is missing from the current squad. He’s also got some experience behind, him having already played in the English leagues and starring in the German top flight last season so there’ll be no need for the kid gloves treatment…

…unlike that player due to sign after the weekend; Josh McEachran. There is no doubt that McEachran is a huge talent but it currently inhabits a slight frame that has seen very little first team action and whilst I can’t wait to see the deal fully ratified and the young lad spraying the ball around the Liberty pitch, I do fear that the expectations placed on his shoulders by some fans are way over the top. After all, this is a player that has, I believe, yet to complete back to back 90 minute appearances; he’s going to need a little bit of nursing at times and it will be a learning curve for him. That said, if the deal does finally go through he’ll have a manager that already understands him and whom he can trust, having worked with Rodgers at Chelsea previously,  and that’s half the battle for a young player trying to make the breakthrough at any level, much less the top level of the Premier League.

And that leaves me wondering where David Cotterill would be if he’d had Rodgers coaching him a few years earlier. There’s no denying that Cotterill has talent – he showed what he could do under Sousa and again in the attacking midfield role in Rodgers’ early days – but there’s seems to be an inherent lack of confidence in him which serves to undermine the lad and a poor performance against Leicester last January effectively finished him as a Swan.

A record signing when Sousa splashed out £600k, Cotterill still had 18 months left to run on a lucrative contract and the decision to pay him off will no doubt be a costly one. But we’ve reached the point where we simply have to start letting players go…I hesitate to use the word “deadwood” but we have players in the squad on good wages that are never, ever going to get a look in under Rodgers and we need to start clearing the decks so that we have room for the likes of McEachran and Sigurdsson.

It’s all part of the squad revolution that Rodgers is undertaking and with another fortnight plus of the transfer window still to go there could well be more comings and goings. Indeed, reports continue to swirl around linking the Swans with Bristol City striker Nicky Maynard with first cash and Stephen Dobbie going the other way and then Leroy Lita added into the package too.

Whilst I’d hesitate to lose Lita, Dobbie (in my opinion) has no future at Swansea under Rodgers – he’s way down an ever lengthening midfield list – and it makes sense to move him on. Of course, there’s a sentimental attachment for Dobbie on the fans’ part (I share it too) but Rodgers has stated clearly that he learnt his lesson at Reading about letting sentimentality get the better of his judgement and he won’t allow himself to make that mistake again. Whether Maynard arrives at the Liberty or not, I think Dobbie’s days are numbered and perhaps that’s for the best for the sake of his own career.

Whatever else happens this month, Rodgers’ Revolution of the Swansea City playing squad is gathering pace…let’s hope it leads to a long term occupation of the Premier League!