swinging the lead
#4 No Piroe...Still Party?
by chris leadbeater
Former Copper-cum-Columnist Chris Leadbeater loves a good party…it’s why he kept the handcuffs! But there are parties and there are PIROE parties and it is the latter that Chris is swinging his lead over. Alas Copper Chris’s article is a victim of the Editor delaying publication but we have left it in not only because it serves to highlight the dilemma faced by the club, but also as evidence of Leadbeater being the Grim Reaper of Swansea City careers!!
I apologise in advance to my fellow Jacks given my past record of writing articles and then the subject leaving the club no sooner than our Rt Hon. Editor hits the publish button (The Tate:Modern comes to mind); but here’s my spin on the largest cloud currently dancing over Swansea Bay. Joel Piroe, does he stay or does he go now? Strong Nessa vibes there.
There’s no doubt that JP is our strongest goalscoring threat currently in the squad, and he has an ability to stick it in the net that will appeal to a lot of clubs in the Championship and the equivalent standard leagues across Europe.
In the last 10 years only Wilf Bony in his first stint at the club and Oli McBurnie sit in the 20+ goals a season club with Piroe [Now that would be quite a party! – Ed.]. Not wanting to tempt fate, but leaving the club didn’t really work out on the pitch for either of them so, you know Joel….just saying!
The cloud I referred to earlier though is that Mr Piroe’s contract does indeed expire at the end of the 2023/24 season. This means he is able to speak to clubs outside of the English system come New Years Day and will in all likelihood leave on a free, having secured himself a very nice financial package in lieu of a club paying the Swans a transfer fee.
He could of course be the subject of a snatch and grab by a domestic club in the January transfer window, but by that point even a Mars Bar and a copy of the Daily Mail is a bonus for the club. The main benefit would be freeing up 6 months wages for our own desperate striker swoop to replace him….like Borja Baston to Aston Villa.
I see and hear that the club is asking for a fee in the region of £20 million for Piroe which puts us as supporters in two parallel camps.
One insisting that Joel Piroe is a £20m striker on ability alone? Yes, probably he is.
The other saying is he a £20m striker now when he can leave for £0 in 11 months time?
Well this is where the club is playing a risky game. I understand the £20m tag being there to put off the likes of Leeds, Everton etc or avoid Joel scoring the winner against us on a rainy Tuesday night in Watford. What happens at the end of August though when we’re still asking £20m from clubs in the same leagues and no one in Italy, Germany, Turkey etc has come forward with an attractive amount of cash? Do we still say no when Leeds offer up £10m, or £7m or £5m on deadline day? Because as soon as the transfer window closes its pot luck as to whether a fee comes for him at all.
£20 million to £0 is a considerable drop. £20 million is roughly the clubs operating turnover for 2021-2022. Its not an insignificant sum but when you consider the club, from non transfer activity only brings in £20 million a year, even £5 million is a significant injection. This is all presuming there is no sell-on clause in place with Feyenoord from the deal that brought him to the club.
It puts me as a Swans supporter in a difficult position of mind too. I want to see Piroe smashing in another 20 this season and the East Stand partying with it. I also don’t want to see the club with its pants pulled down holding out for an excessive fee to end up getting just enough for a bag of chips at Rossi’s.
That said I don’t want the Board to pocket a nice lump sum and us not see any of that fee end up in reinforcements on the pitch.
Come on Joel….you won’t find anywhere else like Swansea so pop a squiggle on a new deal and keep the party going!
