Swansea City are holding meetings this week with a view to drafting in a new recruitment chief.
Mark Allen left his role as sporting director last month following his tensions with the club's ownership group and chief executive Julian Winter. The club officially confirmed the Welshman's exit on April 29, with Winter stating at the time that the process to find his successor was underway. You can read the full story on that here.
It's understood head coach Russell Martin and Winter are both holding talks with potential candidates this week for what is expected to be primarily a recruitment role as opposed to the sporting director position previously held by Allen. It is hoped the club can make an appointment later this month or in early June.
The Swans have identified a number of transfer targets and do not believe Allen's exit will impact their plans when it comes to the summer window. "The recruitment process at the minute, we're meeting twice a week with the head of recruitment, myself, Lee Maybury (chief scout), Ben Greenwood, Gilly [Matt Gill], and we're all really clear, just to make sure we're up to date on the targets and where we're at," Martin told WalesOnline. "Julian feeds that back to the ownership and we wait for the green light to get going."
It comes as part of what will be yet another significant shake-up behind the scenes at the Swansea.com Stadium and Fairwood. Swansea have already been linked with a move for Rotherham United's head of recruitment Rob Scott, brother of the Swans' former head of recruitment Andy Scott. However, sources at Swansea have stated he is not among the candidates to come in to the club.
Following Allen's switch from academy director to sporting director last summer, former Under-23s boss Jon Grey oversaw matters at the club's academy, with club icon Kris O'Leary taking charge of the most senior youth side. But movement is now expected in the academy as part of the latest behind-the-scenes changes at the club.
"Mark came from the academy system so he still had the overriding say on the academy," explained head coach Martin. "There'll be a bit of movement in the academy, not people losing jobs, just people moving around.
"The new person will come in and work alongside Julian and myself and make sure we have a recruitment process strategy and everything else to make sure that we're all really comfortable."
Which player(s) would you like to see Swansea sign this summer? Have your say in our comments section here.
Swansea are expecting yet another significant squad turnaround this summer. Players including Ben Hamer, Yan Dhanda and Korey Smith will leave the club while others including Jordon Garrick, Ryan Bennett and Steven Benda have been deemed surplus to requirements.
It is highly likely that last season's top scorer Joel Piroe - who netted 24 times in 47 appearances - will be sold as Swansea continue to balance the books. Given the vast number of impending departures, they are keen to bring in plenty of young and athletic talent.
