With little more than a week to go until the transfer window reaches its climax, Swansea City remain in a precarious position.
Russell Martin fully laid bare the club's situation following the grim 2-0 defeat to Luton Town at the Swansea.com Stadium on Saturday. Not only did he confirm that the Swans were required to sell a player before making any further additions, the head coach also stated that the club aren't even in a position to make a loan signing.
The 36-year-old also addressed Joel Piroe's difficult start to the 2022/23 campaign and admitted the Dutchman had been affected by the speculation surrounding his future.
Indeed, Piroe's situation is pivotal to Swansea's final 10 days in the summer market. The 23-year-old netted 24 times in 47 appearances in all competitions last season following his move from PSV Eindhoven but is yet to get off the mark after five outings this term.
When discussing plans for Piroe earlier this summer, the Swans valued the striker at a fee of around £18m given that he still has two years left to run on his deal and that they achieved a similar fee for Oli McBurnie when the Scot joined Sheffield United in 2019.
For context, Blackburn Rovers are holding out for £15m for star frontman Ben Brereton Diaz who is in the final year of his deal at Ewood Park.
But fans know the club's history under the current ownership only too well and fully expect Piroe to leave for well below their valuation should he be sold.
The club need to plug a financial hole, even after the sale of Flynn Downes to West Ham United. Ambition is a word regularly thrown around by supporters desperate to see investment in their football clubs - whether for the overall benefit of their team or not.
However, Swansea's owners clearly have no desire to fund new signings, meaning their current model of needing to develop assets to be sold for significant profits will remain, which in turn ensures Martin's job has the potential to get progressively more difficult throughout his tenure.
Take Downes, Ethan Laird, Cyrus Christie or Hannes Wolf. Each of those players would fully expect to be regular starters in the current squad. But the situation is clear. Selling is imperative.
So what do Swansea do? Offload their most prolific scorer for a sum that will inevitably be closer to the £10m mark in a rush on deadline day with a view to hurriedly making a couple of last-ditch additions or keep him and do zero business?
Watford have previously discussed the possibility of signing Piroe, and given the Hornets' dealings (Emmanuel Dennis to Nottingham Forest, Cucho Hernandez to Columbus Crew, Josh King to Fenerbahce, Andre Gray to Aris Saloniki plus Newcastle United's interest in Joao Pedro and Aston Villa's interest in Ismaila Sarr) a late move from the Vicarage Road outfit can't be ruled out.
Piroe possesses immense quality and his composure in front of goal won't desert him as a result of this saga. Fans can almost certainly bank on him hitting the goal trail again after September 1 should he remain at the club beyond the transfer deadline.
But whichever of the aforementioned situations unfold, Martin and his coaching staff appear to have their work cut out when it comes to improving on last season's 15th-place finish in the Championship.
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