Swansea City have recently completed the sale of 26-year-old striker Alberto Paloschi to Serie A outfit Atalanta for an estimated fee of around £6m, with the Italian bidding farewell to the Liberty Stadium just 5 months after arriving in SA1.

Paloschi became the first incoming transfer following the appointment of fellow Italian Francesco Guidolin as manager (the successor to former captain Garry Monk, who was relieved of his managerial duties a month prior), who he had previously worked with during his time at Parma.

Paloschi arrived at Parma in 2008 from Italian giants AC Milan as somewhat of a potential future star, and had a successful first season at Parma, scoring 12 goals in 34 appearances, helping to steer the club back to the Serie A. He enjoyed a 2-year spell at Parma before switching to fellow Italian club Genoa in 2010, spending 1 season with the side before joining Chievo in 2011, where he played for four and a half seasons.

In January 2016, Alberto Paloschi was reunited with Francesco Guidolin, this time as a Swansea City player, after joining from Chievo for a fee of around £7.8m. Upon the completion of the transfer, the Swansea manager said “He can play well in the Premier League because he is strong”, [1] a statement which generated much anticipation among Swansea fans, who had been crying out for a new striker with Frenchman Bafetimbi Gomis in less-than-pleasing form, and summer-signing Eder also failing to settle into the side. The poor form of Paloschi’s attacking teammates had seen the club slump rapidly down the league table, and left fans, players and management alike concerned about the realistic prospect of relegation, ending the club’s 5-year stint in the top flight.

The fans were hopeful that at last they had found a suitable replacement for Ivory Coast international Wilfried Bony, who had left the Welsh club a year prior, joining title-challenging Manchester City for a fee of £28m, which remains to this day the highest transfer fee received for Swansea.

A week after signing, Paloschi made his Swansea City debut, coming off the bench in Swansea’s 1-1 away draw with West Bromwich Albion. He delivered a performance showing much promise, with Swansea teammate Gylfi Sigurdsson stating, “He works very hard for the team and I’m looking forward to playing more with him”. [2]

4 days later, he made his full debut in yet another 1-1 draw, this time against fellow strugglers Crystal Palace. 3 weeks later, the Italian scored his first goal for the Swans, opening the scoring in a highly exciting, end-to-end visit to White Hart Lane, home of title hopefuls Tottenham Hotspur, latching onto a loose ball in the box and striking the ball cleverly past Hugo Lloris. This goal however was not enough to secure any valuable points for the Swans, with the home side coming out on top by 2 goals to 1, following second-half goals from Nacer Chadli and Danny Rose respectively.

After crucial home wins against the eventually relegated Norwich City and Aston Villa, and a terrific away win against Arsenal for the second year running, the Swans were looking more comfortable, and were starting to break away from the relegation-fighting pack slightly, however Paloschi was struggling to adapt to life in the Premier League. He scored what turned out to be his second and final goal for the club in an impressive 2-2 away draw with high-flying Stoke City, made even more special considering the Swans had been trailing by 2 goals to nil at half time, however he failed to make such an impact again for the Welsh side.

Paloschi was in-and-out of the Swansea team in the final 6 games, unable to maintain a place in the starting 11 with Ghanaian international Andre Ayew performing well as a lone striker. As the season drew to a close, speculation arose regarding the future of the former U21 Italian international, and as we entered the month of June, the speculation intensified, with reports claiming that Paloschi was keen on a return to Italy, his home nation where he had spent his entire career before switching to South Wales. Within weeks, these rumours turned to reality, and just 5 months after he was brought in to resolve Swansea’s goal-scoring crisis, Alberto Paloschi was shown the exit door, with the Swans making a loss of almost £2m, having purchased the striker for £7.8m.

With Alberto Paloschi’s underwhelming Swansea tenure coming to a swift end, joining Italian first division side Atalanta, he became the second of Swansea’s signings from 2015-16 season to exit the club before the beginning of the next season, following in the footsteps of the misfiring Eder (whose January loan move to French outfit Lille was made into a permanent deal) out of the Premier League. It also seems likely that a third signing from the season just gone, 27-year-old full back Franck Tabanou may also be sold, after he too failed to adapt to the physicality and fast pace of the Premier League, spending the second half of last season on loan at former club Saint Etienne.

Swansea fans can only hope that over the course of the summer, the Swansea board can resolve the long-standing goal-scoring issues which almost cost the Swans dearly in the 2015-16 season. The aforementioned former Swansea forward Wilfried Bony, who still remains Swansea’s record signing at £12m has been linked in recent weeks, with Swansea fans desperate to see the powerhouse who was so successful at the Liberty Stadium return to the club. As well as Bony, former Manchester City striker John Guidetti, now at Spanish club Celta Vigo has also been linked. The 23-year-old Swedish international is currently representing his national side at the European Championships in France, and can bring with him the experience of working with superstar Zlatan Ibrahimovic, a man largely described as one of the best strikers in the world today.

Whilst nothing is certain in terms of the realism of these transfer rumours, what is certain is that the Swans cannot afford to let the summer transfer window pass by without seriously bolstering their attacking options.

Thank you for reading my first article, feel free to leave any feedback, and I hope to see you all very soon.

[1] http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/35425362

[2] http://www.swanseacity.net/news/article/swansea-city-gylfi-sigurdsson-impressed-alberto-paloschi-debut-2940042.aspx#2hTwz8VeUAhxc245.99

(Image obtained from – http://www.southwales-eveningpost.co.uk/images/localworld/ugc-images/276352/Article/images/28815470/12889634.jpg)