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Zan Vipotnik has been on fire for Swansea City this season, but the Swans are being urged to move him on in January if the right offer comes in.

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Swansea City are being urged to move on in-form striker Zan Vipotnik in the January transfer window, should the right offer come in for the Slovenian international.

Results may have stabilised a little in recent weeks, but 2025-26 has been a difficult season so far for Swansea City. Alan Sheehan was replaced by former Liverpool coach Vitor Matos at the end of November and the Swans have won four of the six Championship games they've played in December, but the team remains in 18th place in the table, just four places above the relegation zone.

But one of the bright spots of an otherwise underwhelming season has been the form of Slovenian international striker Zan Vipotnik, who's already scored ten Championship goals, making him one of the joint-second highest goalscorers in the division, an impressive performance, considering the extent to which the Swans have struggled so far this season.

With the January transfer window set to open, this form has attracted the interest of other clubs, including Premier League West Ham United, so one of the biggest decisions that the Swans may have to make over the course of the month will be whether to cash in and sell him on while he's in form.

"We'd be silly not to sell" - Swansea City urged to sell Zan Vipotnik if the money's right

With all of this in mind, FLW have spoken to our Swansea City fan pundit Will Hughes about what he thinks his team should do over this, and Will is in no doubt that while Vipotnik has improved this season, there remain gaps in his game.

Will believes that, in spite of Vipotnik's strong goalscoring form, Swansea should consider cashing in on the striker if an offer to the tune of £7.5 million comes in: "To put it bluntly, I would sell if an offer came in at the value the club were after, I wouldn't hesitate to sell.

"I do think Vipotnik has improved on last season, but I do still think there's elements of his game that another striker could improve us in. He's scored some really good goals this season and some really important goals, but I think his lack of pace, aggression and mobility lets him down sometimes."

Will doesn't necessarily think that Vipotnik's perceived lack of pace is a major issue, because his teams have had plenty of strikers like this before: "I think back to strikers we've had in the past who weren't so quick, like Jason Scotland, Fernando Llorente or even Wilfried Bony, none of them you'd say was quick, but if you're not, then what else do you have to offer? You think of (Joel) Piroe; he was fantastic with his feet, good on the ball and could finish well."

"Fernando Llorente was one of the slowest strikers you've ever seen," he continued, "but if you got the ball in to him he could win headers, hold the ball up and be aggressive in crossing situations. Wilfried Bony was all of the above, just take away a lack of pace. Jason Scotland was very slow but good on the ball, could hold it up and finish very well."

Will sees shortcomings in Vipotnik's game which could be found out at a higher level: "Vipotnik can finish very well when he gets the chance and he's got a cannon in his right foot, but what lets him down is his lack of pace. He can't create chances for himself, and not all strikers will create chances for themselves, but while everybody talks about him having this wonderful strike on him, better teams will snuff that out.

"He needs two or three touches to get the ball out from under his feet and unleash it, as we saw against Plymouth in the Cup and Norwich, when he had loads of room to get the strike off and he scored, which is brilliant. But I do think that better teams in the Premier League won't give him that time and space."

And Will is aware that the club is in a position in which they need to sell to buy at present: "I went to the fans' forum recently, and Tom Gorringe didn't play down the fact that we may need to sell to buy in the January window and we definitely need a right-winger and a right-back, so who knows, maybe Vipotnik will have to be sold to facilitate those."

In terms of the amount of money that the Swans could hope for from selling Vipotnik, Will feels that some of the fan estimations of his value have been a little over the top: "But I see a lot of figures being thrown about online, I've seen people say up to £20 million and personally I think that's ridiculous. We're not in a great position in the league. We're not fighting to go up, we are fighting to survive at this moment in time.

"I personally think it wouldn't be for more than £10 million. If I had to value him based on this season, I'd say about £7 million, based on the goals he's scored. Clubs will be coming in January, desperate for strikers, like West Ham and the two Serie A clubs. If they're truly desperate, they'll spend the money."

And he has little doubt that offers from the Premier League or Serie A would turn the player's head: "With Vipotnik, he could have gone back to Slovenia during the summer, but I think this would have been a downward move in his career, going from Slovenia to the second division in France to the Championship and then back to Slovenia, all of a sudden he's getting talked about for a Premier League or Serie A move, one of the top divisions in the world."

Will also believes that there are other players that he would rather not lose in the upcoming window: "So I think if those offers come in, he'll be gone. It'll be too much of a pull for him to want to stay here, so I think he'll go. I don't think it's the end of the world. We've lost better players in the past and come away fine. I'd be a lot more worried if it was the likes of Ethan Galbraith, Goncalo Franco or Josh Tymon, any of them, because I think they're significantly better, they're effectively our spine."

And he feels that there is one player who could come in and at least do a job for them until the end of this season: "And I think that much as Adam Idah hasn't had a great start to his Swansea career, he hasn't been given many chances but I think he can score an equal amount of goals as Vipotnik, granted not the same type of goals, but quick reactions in the box, balls in behind and creating his own chances.

"So I would say not to worry if he does go to Swansea fans, because we'll be fine. We'll get a bit of money for him. If it doesn't work out between now and the end of the season with Idah, okay, we'll get someone in the summer."

But ultimately, Will believes that his club should listen to sensible offers for Vipotnik, should they come in: "Overall, if a significant offer does come in for him, considering that we were going to sell him in the summer, if an offer comes in for him for more than £7.5 million - and the club will be looking for £10 million - we'd be silly not to sell, personally, because we've made a lot of mistakes in the past in not selling players when big offers have come in and we've ended up selling for significantly for less, so I think we'd be silly not to sell this time around, especially if Vipotnik wants to go. If he turns around and says he does, that should be it. We shouldn't be trying to hold onto him for any longer, we should allow him to go and bring someone else in."

Zan Vipotnik found the right time to hit form if he is looking for a January move away from Swansea City

If Zan Vipotnik was looking to impress in time for the January transfer window, he certainly found the right time to hit peak form, with three goals in his last four games for Swansea City. Ten goals in the league - and twelve in all competitions - is an excellent return for a striker playing for a team that's been struggling near the wrong end of the table for much of this season.

Of course, selling an in-form striker is a huge gamble for any club to take, particularly when they have one eye over their own shoulders at the relegation places below them. Adam Idah is being touted as a replacement in terms of scoring goals, but the forward, who signed from Celtic last summer, has been struggling in front of goal while his performance ratings over the last couple of months haven't been especially strong.

But Idah did score - albeit with the assistance of a howler from goalkeeper Arthur Okonwo - a recent late winning goal against Wrexham, his first for the club since the start of November, and with Swansea having forked out a fee of around £6 million for him during the summer, they'll be looking for a bit more of a return from him for their money.

Although Swansea City are only four places above the relegation places, they do have a seven-point buffer. This may allow the club time to start preparations for next season early. And it's true to say that, although Vipotnik has said himself that he's happy at the Swansea.com Stadium, an offer from one of Europe's "Big Five" leagues would surely turn his head. It may appear counterintuitive to sell your top scorer midway through the season, but to do so may end up making a lot of sense for both the player and his club.