Why Swansea City have made Alan Sheehan the envy of Graham Potter, Steve Cooper, Russell Martin and others | OneFootball

Alan Sheehan has been backed in the transfer market like no Swansea City manager in recent seasons

Swansea City brought down the curtain on a superb summer transfer window with the loan signing of Burnley winger Manuel Benson on Tuesday evening.

The addition of Benson, who played an important role in the Clarets' 2022/23 title-winning season, was the icing on the cake for Swansea, who have enjoyed one of their best transfer windows in recent history.

Since relegation to the Championship in 2018, transfer windows have been difficult for Swansea, who have usually been forced to part ways with their prized assets while often scrambling around for cheaper replacements, much to the frustration of previous managers.

However, Alan Sheehan can have no such complaints after his first transfer window in charge of the club, and the foundations are in place for the Swans to launch a genuine play-off push.

Alan Sheehan will be the envy of previous Swansea City managers

Swansea have found it tough going financially since relegation from the top-flight in 2018, and while relegated clubs normally utilise their parachute payment money to ensure they're in with a chance of returning to the Premier League at the first opportunity, the Swans were unable to do that.

Graham Potter's side were decimated by departures in the summer of 2018, and while a number of players were brought in, they were cheap options and many of them weren't good enough to make an impact. Potter led Swansea to a very respectable 10th place finish in his sole season in charge, but that was down to the strength of the club's academy at the time rather than any of their transfer business.

Steve Cooper fared slightly better in the transfer market and utilised his contacts from the England youth set-up to bring in the likes of Rhian Brewster, Conor Gallagher, Marc Guehi and Morgan Gibbs-White on loan, but there was still a lack of money spent on permanent transfers and their inability to sign a striker in January 2021 cost Swansea promotion.

Russell Martin, Michael Duff and Luke Williams have all been and gone since then, and while Duff was backed in the summer of 2023 to a certain extent, it was nothing like the backing given to Sheehan this summer and both Martin and Williams struggled to get what they wanted in the transfer window.

The now infamous January transfer window of 2023 saw Swansea fail to bring in a single player, much to the disappointment of Martin, who brought his entire backroom staff to the first press conference after the window had closed in a show of solidarity as he outlined his frustration.

Williams, meanwhile, was left frustrated in January 2025 as Swansea lost skipper Matt Grimes and were left scrambling around for a replacement at the last minute, with the former Swans boss saying that the club must improve their recruitment work.

Fast-forward a couple of months and Swansea have certainly done that, bringing in 12 new senior players and, just as importantly, offloading deadwood who had no future in SA1.

There's always been a feeling that Swansea could have achieved more had certain previous managers been backed, Sheehan certainly has been this summer and the Irishman will be the envy of previous Swans bosses.

The pressure is now on Alan Sheehan to get the best out of his squad

Sheehan has helped Swansea get off to a very decent start to the season, losing just one of their six competitive games, sitting just outside the play-off places and being one of just five Championship sides in the third round of the Carabao Cup.

The Swans have looked rock solid defensively and, while they haven't been as fluid as they'd have liked going forward, the recent additions of Adam Idah and Manuel Benson will go some way to fixing that.

There's a strong case to say that the current Swans squad is better than the one that got to the play-off final in 2021, and that brings pressure on Sheehan to make sure he gets the best out of it.

Swansea have been able to field a decent starting XI since Premier League relegation in 2018 but have lacked the depth below that, and a look at the Swans' bench for the 2021 play-off final highlights that they seriously lacked depth for a club who were one game away from the Premier League.

Sheehan won't have that problem, and their current depth means there will be competition just for a place on the bench, an exciting novelty for the Jack Army.

It's been a whirlwind couple of months for Swansea, with Luka Modrić and Snoop Dog joining the club's ownership group and a successful transfer window, now it's time for them to get down to business and mount a genuine play-off push.