Rushworth in, Wood out: The dream start to Swansea City's summer transfer window | OneFootball

Highlights

Swansea City are approaching what looks to be a busy transfer window for the club, with a number of players departing, manager Luke Williams must get his dealings right in his first summer at the club.

The 2023/24 EFL Championship season has been a forgettable one for Swansea. The 14th-place finish has been the club's second-worst finish in the second tier since they suffered relegation from the Premier League.

Former Barnsley manager Michael Duff took over at the Swansea.com Stadium before the start of the season when Russell Martin moved on to manage Southampton. Duff lasted only five months in South Wales and was sacked in December with the club only five points clear of the relegation zone after having amassed only 21 points from 19 games.

The eventual appointment of Williams from Notts County brought back some stability to the club after many fans believed Duff's playing style strayed away from the club's possession-based approach, known as the 'Swansea way'.

Williams will be gearing up for his second transfer window at the club after already achieving transfer success with the winter signing of exciting Brazilian winger Ronald.

Swansea experienced a mixed summer transfer window last year, with the permanent signings of full-backs Josh Key and Josh Tymon, and the loan signings of Jamal Lowe and Carl Rushworh undoubtedly successes.

However, the Swans sold their top goalscorer from each of the two previous seasons, Joël Piroe, to Leeds United, and the replacement signings of Jerry Yates and Mykola Kukharevych failed to replicate the Dutchman's impact.

To make matters worse, the club sold Morgan Whittaker to Plymouth Argyle for a low £1 million fee, according to the BBC, and he ended up as the league's joint third-highest goalscorer this season.

This summer could be very important for the club, with several departures likely. Six players, including Rushworth and Charlie Patino, will be heading back to their parent clubs after their loans, and five more players, including club legends Joe Allen and Kyle Naughton, have contracts that expire before the window opens.

Williams must get his signings right. Here are two transfers that could kick-start a mega window in South Wales.

Swansea must secure another loan deal for Carl Rushworth

Rushworth was one of the best signings of 2023/24 for Swansea. At the club's awards evening, he scooped both the Player's Player Of The Season and the Supporters Player's Player Of The Season awards.

The 22-year-old was one of only four goalkeepers in the Championship to play every minute of the season for their club and in that time he put up some impressive numbers. According to FBREF's post-shot expected goals minus goals allowed statistic, he has prevented 5.5 goals, which is the second-highest of any goalkeeper in the league.

If Swansea fail to re-sign their star man on loan from Brighton, they will be left with Andy Fisher as the only keeper in the squad to have played at this level. Fisher was signed by Martin as a first-choice option in January 2022, but a string of poor performances lost him his place, and he is certainly not a reliable option between the sticks for next season.

Williams is confident that the goalkeeper will sign on for another year. He said: "I think he is going to be with us next season of course, but after that he is going to go on and be a top Premier League keeper I am sure because of the quality he has but also the personality he has to go with it."

Nathan Wood could bring in a high profit for Swansea

Nathan Wood is another star performer for the team. He featured 26 times last season and twice made the league's team of the week.

The centre-back joined Swansea from Middlesbrough in July 2022 for a reported £400,000 fee, according to the BBC, on a two-year deal. However, the club exercised an option to extend his contract until the end of next season at the start of April.

Despite the contract extension, Williams believed that there is a chance Wood could be sold this summer. He said: "We are not going to be advertising that there is a sale on, half-price, come and get him because he is an unreal player - we love him to pieces.

"But the situation that presents itself [means] it’s plausible that [a transfer] will happen.”

The sale of such a high-quality and high-potential player will be a hit for the Swans, but they do have good cover in the centre-back position with Harry Darling and Wales international Ben Cabango.

The 21-year-old is likely to command a high transfer fee and there have already been multiple bids of more than £10 million for the player from Southampton last season, according to MailOnline.

With what looks to be a high-turnover transfer window in South Wales, the money recouped from the potential sale of Wood could be spread over several signings in key areas to improve the overall squad.