West Ham may be licking their lips at Swansea City situation | OneFootball

Zan Vipotnik was heavily linked with a move to the London Stadium in January

Swansea City have endured a season of mixed fortunes this term, but their campaign is certainly far from over as the run-in nears despite a recent run of inconsistent form.

After parting ways with Luke Williams 12 months ago, the South Wales club then moved to appoint Alan Sheehan on a permanent basis after a successful interim period, before such an experiment failed, meaning they are now under the management of former Liverpool assistant, Vitor Matos.

As previously mentioned, whilst Swansea have somewhat improved under the Portuguese, with a clear style of play implemented in South Wales, their results have been rather mixed.

But, with a large portion of sides in the Championship going through similar motions, they are still less than 10 points outside the top six, meaning an outside shot at promotion, which would have been ruled out at this stage in previous campaigns, cannot be entirely ruled out despite their current league position of 16th.

It is fair to say, though, that the Swans certainly haven't been one of the second tier's most prolific sides when it comes to putting the ball in the back of the net, having only achieved a tally of 38 strikes in 32 games, whilst currently having a goal difference of minus one in the process.

It also begs the question as to how different the outlook of their campaign, even under the aforementioned Matos, would have been, were it not for the individual prolificacy of Slovenian hotshot, Zan Vipotnik.

The 23-year-old has been, and continues to be, a revelation at the Swansea.com Stadium after his free transfer in August 2024 after leaving French side, Bordeaux.

As such, the Swans are set to certainly bank a profit on his services should his goalscoring form continue, whilst clubs in the Premier League will also fancy their chances of landing the forward's signature should his current employers drift away from the congested play-off race in the coming weeks.

Zan Vipotnik has become a bargain transfer for Swansea City amid Premier League interest

Prior to his move to Swansea in the summer of 2024, Vipotnik earned a credible reputation throughout the early stages of his senior career in his native Slovenia and in France with Bordeaux, even during the club's testing financial times.

The 22-time international also made his debut for Slovenia some 17 months before joining the Swans at the beginning of Williams' only full season in charge of the club, albeit he is now a familiar face in the Championship to current Hull City head coach, Sergej Jakirovic, who managed him at NK Maribor, for whom he scored 23 times in just 50 appearances.

Despite such a reputation, Vipotnik, like many strikers of a similar ilk, needed some time to acclimatise to his maiden stint in English football, despite opening his Swans account in just his second appearance in a 3-0 win over Preston North End in August 2024.

Across 24 starting appearances and a further 18 substitute cameos, the forward netted seven times last term, but has come on leaps and bounds this season despite Swansea's overall inconsistencies.

Across 35 matches in all competitions so far this season, Vipotnik has found the back of the net 17 times, with his tally of 15 in the Championship making him the division's leading scorer as the campaign progresses through February.

The Slovenian is averaging a goal every 133 minutes whilst having a conversion rate of 25 percent, meaning one of every four shots he takes ends up nestling in the net, which is a fine record.

As such, it was reported in the lead-up to the transfer window that West Ham had lodged an enquiry over the potential signing of Vipotnik, whilst facing competition from Serie A sides, before signing Taty Castellanos and Pablo Felipe from Lazio and Gil Vicente respectively.

It has been claimed that Swansea have set a £15m price-tag on Vipotnik's head, a sum of cash which many would argue is 'pocket change' for several Premier League sides.

It remains to be seen if West Ham would reignite their interest in the summer, particularly due to their current striking options, as well as the fact they could be playing in the same division as Swansea, which could lessen the chances of the Welsh club wanting to do business.

Regardless, there are likely to be a plethora of suitors, either in the Premier League or across Europe, should Vipotnik build on his 17-goal haul thus far, with Matos' recent comments perhaps hinting that the Swans are resigned to losing him in the summer.

"If he keeps scoring like that, yeah, we will be really happy with that before anything, thinking on anything," he said.