Yet again we find ourselves talking about Joel Piroe links with the name of Nottingham Forest again coming to the fore but this time around is there a potential swap deal in the offing.
This time last week it was the name of Ellis Simms and Everton that was being discussed as a potential swap deal but a week later and with Simms seemingly off to Coventry then Piroe’s chances of a move to Goodison Park seem to have diminished slightly which leaves Nottingham Forest as the only current reported Premier League interest.
That link with Forest is of course not a new one given Steve Cooper’s knowledge of the player prior to his departure from SA1 and the generic belief that Forest will be looking at a new striker during this window as they prepare for their second successive Premier League season under the former Swans boss.
However, what is new is the possibility of Swans interest in one of Forest’s own strikers and that is someone who has already had playing time in SA1 in Sam Surridge. Ironically, Surridge has also been linked with a move to Leeds broadly at the same time as the Elland Road side were linked with a move for Piroe. Those reports also suggested a £15k per week wage for Surridge which would certainly be within the Swans budget should they decide to move which could build credence to the fact that we may consider him.
Surridge signed for the Swans under Steve Cooper on a season long loan in 2019-2020 but was recalled by his parent club at the time – Bournemouth – in January 2020 after scoring seven times in twenty-three appearances for the club.
Since his recall from that loan spell in SA1 regular starts have not been a key part of his career and in his eighteen months at Forest he has just six league starts to his name although he has appeared as a substitute in the league thirty-one times and netted eight league goals. His only Premier League goal for the club came against his former side Bournemouth last season.
It is believed that Forest would be prepared to set Surridge leave this summer and, given his current record, the destination seems most likely to be the Championship. With the Swans being one of the sides that are being linked with the player the subject of a swap deal involving Piroe and cash seems a natural evolution of those links and would potentially suit both clubs assuming that we do indeed have that interest in Surridge.
The sale of Joel Piroe seems inevitable this summer and the need to replace him is obvious and already we have links with other strikers including Sunday’s link with Piroe’s fellow Dutchman Dylan Vente.
The question within any swap deal that the Swans may consider would be the price for the two players and how much the Swans could expect to receive as part of the deal. There should be no doubt that the value of Piroe is greater than that of Surridge but how much more will depend on the negotiation skills of both parties.
From our perspective if we were to replace Piroe with Surridge then it would not seem like a poor deal. His record here of broadly one goal in three games was decent enough although again he was only used as a starter in seven of his twenty league appearances under Cooper.
The unknown in this is whether this is just random rumours that have surfaced or whether the Swans genuinely do have an interest in Surridge but what we will say is that we continue to watch the Forest and Piroe links with interest and throwing Surridge into the mix probably adds a level of sense to this rather than anything else?
