Russell Martin paints clear picture of Swansea City's…

Russell Martin paints clear picture of Swansea City's transfer situation as Joel Piroe concern raised after Luton Town loss

Russell Martin says Swansea City must sell a key asset if they are to further strengthen their squad in the transfer window.

The Swans suffered a disappointing 2-0 loss to Luton Town to ensure they remain without a home win this season. Their squad was somewhat thin against the Hatters as a result of the injuries sustained by players including Jamie Paterson and Joel Latibeaudiere.

Head coach Martin has been eager to add to his squad before the 11pm deadline on September 1, but, speaking after the defeat to Nathan Jones' men, he confirmed that - following his conversations with the ownership group - the Swans are unable to make further signings at present.

"We're [Martin and owners] in constant conversation," he said. "The group is what we have at the minute. I'm sure people will be frustrated by that. You can either take your frustration out on the team or really stick behind the young men.

"If you look at what Hannes [Wolf] and Cyrus [Christie] added to us in January, it was really big. Joe [Allen] is going to be an outstanding player for us, you saw that again today.

"He's not played for three months. He was never meant to play 90 minutes today. We probably don't have as much depth as everyone else."

But Martin was definitive in his response when asked if the Swans had to offload another player before being able to bolster their squad. "Yeah, I wouldn't be sitting here and telling you if it wasn't," he said after being asked if the club needed to sell before adding to their ranks. And when asked if even a loan signing was possible, Martin responded: "Not at the moment, no."

Defeat to the Hatters leaves Swansea with just one win from their opening six games of the 2022/23 campaign. Last season's top scorer Joel Piroe is yet to net this term having bagged 24 times in all competitions in the previous campaign.

The Dutchman has been the subject of interest from clubs including Watford in recent months, and Martin admits the 23-year-old has been affected by the speculation surrounding his future.

"It's not quite clicking for him at the moment," Martin said on Piroe. "He's putting in a hell of a shift for the team. Joel came in, he knows my feelings on it. I'm not convinced he would have had the impact he had [at Swansea] for most other Championship teams last season.

"He could now, he could play for anyone. It really suited him. He got himself in great shape, he's working so hard for the team, but in front of goal his mind is not quite clear yet. That's for a number of reasons.

"He's unsure what's going to happen, the longer the window goes on, so the minute the window shuts hopefully he'll be a bit clearer and hopefully we'll still have Joel, and I'm sure that'll help him.

"It's just difficult for him at the minute. Once he gets one, he'll relax and the rest will keep coming because he's getting into the positions."

Discussing the loss to Luton, Martin said: "We've let the two minutes of madness on Tuesday [against Millwall] seep into the start again.

“Box to box, I watch with pride at how they play football. But in both boxes today, in our box on Tuesday for two minutes, it's just not convincing enough, not enough aggression. We paid for it at the second phase of a set-piece again and then a counter-attack when we are so on top."

Swansea return to action against Middlesbrough next weekend. Kick-off at the Riverside Stadium is at 3pm on Saturday.

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