Swansea City

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Goals from Jay Fulton, Kyle Naughton and Matt Grimes gave Swansea City a convincing win over Portuguese side Rio Ave in their final pre-season friendly.

Midfielder Fulton gave the Swans a half-time lead, finishing from close range after a deflected cross from new g Eom Ji-Sung.

Substitute Naughton took advantage of a goalmouth scramble to score in the six-yard box after 73 minutes, before Grimes sealed the win with a low, left footed drive set up by trialist Ruben Providence.

Providence a former Under-19 international, came off the bench during the second half and is looking for a club having last played for Austrian side TSV Hartberg.

The Swans gave first home starts to South Korea international Eom, as well as goalkeeper Lawrence Vigoroux and midfielder Goncalo Franco.

Another new Swansea arrival, Slovenia forward Zan Vipotnik, was presented to the crowd at half-time after g a four-year deal.

Swansea's EFL campaign begins at Middlesbrough next Saturday at 12:30 BST.

New gs Eom Ji-Sung, Goncalo Franco and Lawrence Vigouroux will make their first home appearances for Swansea City in Saturday's friendly against Rio Ave of Portugal (15:00 BST).

All three players are named in the starting XI.

Slovenia forward Zan Vipotnik, who signed on Thursday, will be presented to the crowd of around 5,000 at half-time.

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Swansea City Women have appointed Yzzy Taylor as assistant manager to Jamie Sherwood ahead of the 2024-25 season.

Taylor spent 11 years as player and then manager at Cardiff Met, stepping down at the end of the 2022-23 season.

She won six Adran Premier titles, three Welsh Cups and four Adran Trophies while in charge of the Archers.

Taylor said ing Swansea was “an opportunity that I couldn’t say no to".

The 30-year-old will continue her job within the Wales Women Under-19s’ coaching team alongside her new role with the Swans.

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Swansea City play the final pre-season game when Portuguese top-flight side Rio Ave visit the Swansea.com Stadium on Saturday (15:00 BST).

It has not been a hectic pre-season, with Swansea playing behind-closed-doors games against Swindon Town and Bristol Rovers before a training camp in Austria.

They lost 2-1 to German side FC Koln while in Austria before rounding off the trip with a 1-1 draw against North Macedonian club FK Vardar, with Luke Williams picking a more inexperienced side for the latter fixture.

Now comes the final dress rehearsal for the new Championship season, with head coach Williams thought likely to field something close to the line-up which will start at Middlesbrough on Saturday, 10 August.

The lack of options with Swansea’s squad means much of Williams’ team picks itself right now.

On Thursday striker Zan Vipotnik became the club’s fourth summer g, though the Slovenia international will not up with his new team-mates until next week.

Swansea's three other close-season recruits - Lawrence Vigouroux, Goncalo Franco and Eom Ji-Sung - should all make their first home appearances for the club this weekend.

The Swans have a number of fitness issues to contend with on the eve of the new season, with Andy Fisher, Kyle Naughton, Sam Parker, Joe Allen, Ronald, Aimar Govea, Mykola Kuharevich and Josh Ginnelly all absent from the open training session the club held earlier this week.

Rio Ave finished 11th in the 18-team Primeira Liga last season.

Gareth Vincent
BBC Sport Wales

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Luke Williams will not need to spend hours agonising over which team to pick when the new Championship campaign begins at Middlesbrough in 11 days’ time.

After all, Swansea City’s head coach has barely any options to choose from.

The threadbare nature of Swansea’s current squad was highlighted as the club held an open training session on Tuesday.

Seven players played no part in the main session, with goalkeeper Andy Fisher not involved having picked up an injury during last week’s pre-season trip to Austria.

The six others – Joe Allen, Kyle Naughton, Aimar Govea, Mykola Kuharevich, Josh Ginnelly and Ronald - were limited to doing bike work on the side of the Swansea.com Stadium pitch due to various fitness issues.

Those who were on the grass took part in a 10-a-side training game.

Assistant coach Ryan Harley had to make up the numbers as a player, while the 20 playing the game also included youngsters Liam Smith, Dan Watts ad Josh Thomas, plus two players who were sent out on loan last season in Kristian Pedersen and Nathan Tjoe-A-On.

Having signed three players so far this summer and allowed a dozen to leave, Swansea are a club in desperate need of reinforcements with the trip to Teesside just around the corner.

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Cameron Congreve and Joel Cotterill are set to leave Swansea City on loan.

Both players will spend the duration of the 2024-25 season in League Two.

Congreve is poised to newly-promoted Bromley while Cotterill is expected to move to Swindon Town.

Academy product Congreve, 20, made his senior debut in Swansea's 1-0 loss at Blackpool in March 2022.

His first start came at Nottingham Forest in the penultimate game of the 2021-22 season.

The Wales under-21 international has featured 18 times in all competitions for Swansea's first team.

His Swans contract runs until the summer of 2025, although the deal includes a 12-month extension option.

Central midfielder Cotterill, 19, made his first team debut for Swansea in the Carabao Cup at Oxford United in August 2022.

He featured 12 times in all competitions during his loan spell with Stockport County in League Two last season.

Cotterill's Swans contract expires in the summer of 2026.

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Swansea City came from behind to draw 1-1 with FK Vardar of North Macedonia in their penultimate pre-season fixture.

An experimental starting 11 featuring predominantly academy players including Evan Watts, Filip Lissah and Cameron Congreve fell behind to Djibril Dianessy's goal in the 22nd minute in Friedberg.

But summer g Goncalo Franco levelled proceedings 16 minutes into the second-half.

Shortly after the Portuguese midfielder's effort, Williams changed his entire 11, bringing on a raft of first team players including club captain Matt Grimes, Jay Fulton, Harry Darling and Ben Cabango.

The Swans conclude their pre-season schedule with a home friendly against Portuguese side Rio Ave on Saturday, 3 August.

Williams' side take on Middlesbrough at the Riverside Stadium in their 2024-25 Championship opener a week later.

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Former Swansea City striker Oli McBurnie has ed La Liga side Las Palmas.

The Scotland international has signed a three-year deal after his contract at Sheffield United expired last month.

McBurnie scored 26 goals in 144 league appearances for United having ed the Blades for a then club-record £20m fee in August 2019.

Las Palmas finished 16th in La Liga last season, after earning promotion in the 2022-23 season.

Gareth Vincent
BBC Sport Wales

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The chances of Jamie Paterson returning to Swansea City are looking increasingly slim as uncertainty over the attacking midfielder’s future continues.

Paterson is officially a free agent after his contract expired last month.

The 32-year-old was offered a new deal by Swansea at the end of last season, but has not signed and has played no part in the club’s preparations for the new Championship campaign.

Paterson has scored 17 goals in 109 appearances since ing Swansea in August 2021, following his release by Bristol City.

He proved last season that he remains capable of having an impact in the second tier, and Swansea head coach Luke Williams had been keen for Paterson to remain at the club alongside fellow experienced pros Kyle Naughton and Joe Allen.

The Swans have given no indication that the contract offer made to Paterson has been withdrawn.

However, the belief within the Welsh club is that Paterson, who has already missed much of pre-season, is unlikely to return.

Paterson scored eight goals last season.

Should the former Nottingham Forest player's exit be confirmed, a Swansea side who struggled to take their chances in 2023-24 will have said farewell to their three leading scorers in what was an arduous campaign, having already lost Jamal Lowe and sent Jerry Yates on loan to Derby County.

They have signed two players capable of playing in a similar role to Paterson - Eom Ji-Sung and Goncalo Franco - while their bid to recruit a proven Championship forward continues.

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Striker Mykola Kuharevich and winger Josh Ginnelly are missing from Swansea City’s squad in Austria because of injury issues.

Kuharevich has featured during pre-season but was left out of the Austria trip after picking up what Swansea say is a minor fitness issue.

Ginnelly, meanwhile, is not yet ready for action as he continues to recover from the ruptured Achilles he suffered in September 2023.

Swansea are short of attacking options having lost the likes of Jerry Yates and Jamal Lowe since the end of last season.

Liam Cullen started as Luke Williams’ team suffered their first pre-season defeat on Tuesday afternoon, going down 2-1 to FC Koln at the Thermenstadion in Bad Waltersdorf.

The German side, who were relegated from the Bundesliga last season, scored two early goals through Tim Lemperle with Ben Cabango pulling one back for the Swans before half-time.

Goalkeeper Lawrence Vigouroux came on as a first-half substitute having sealed his move to Swansea on Monday night.

Gareth Vincent
BBC Sport Wales

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Swansea City have another recruitment box ticked after the g of goalkeeper Lawrence Vigouroux, but there remains much work to do before head coach Luke Williams has the squad he wants.

It is coming up to 12 weeks since defeat to Millwall brought the curtain down on Swansea’s arduous 2023-24 campaign - and only 17 days until the new Championship season begins.

Vigouroux, who has arrived from Burnley for an undisclosed fee, fills the hole left by Carl Rushworth’s return to Brighton and Hove Albion, with Swansea confident he is the type of ball-playing keeper who will suit Williams’ style of play.

But vacancies remain across Swansea’s squad, most notably in attack.

Jerry Yates has gone to Derby County and Jamal Lowe is now at Sheffield Wednesday, meaning Liam Cullen and Mykola Kuharevich – who barely got a kick last season – are the only senior strikers on Swansea’s books.

It could be that Brazilian winger Ronald is used in a more central role at times in the new season, but that does not change the fact that Swansea need a centre-forward and preferably one who has a record of scoring goals in the second tier.

Finding that player is the priority for Williams and the club’s recruitment team and, with an opening-day trip to Middlesbrough on 10 August looming ever larger on the horizon, time is of the essence.

But it is not only up front that Swansea need to strengthen.

Image source, Swansea City AFC

They are also in the market for at least one wide player. Ideally, in fact, they would like two, after Przemyslaw Placheta accepted the contract on offer at Oxford United.

Swansea are in need of defensive reinforcements too, with Nathan Wood and Bashir Humphreys not yet replaced.

That leaves Ben Cabango and Harry Darling as Swansea’s only senior central defenders – alongside veteran utility player Kyle Naughton - while the Welsh club’s full-back options are not bountiful either.

Kristian Pedersen and Nathan Tjoe-A-On are back in the fold after being sent out on loan last January, but whether either player will come into the first-team reckoning remains to be seen.

Vigouroux was Swansea’s third g of the summer, while 11 players – not including Jamie Paterson – have departed since the end of last season.

That sharp contrast illustrates how much business still needs to be done.

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Swansea City Women have signed Wales Under-19 midfielder Maddy Murray.

The 17-year-old s after a successful trial, having played for the Football Association of Wales Girls’ Academy Under-16s last season.

"Maddy is a young and versatile player who is technically strong and is capable of playing within the Swansea City identity," said manager Jamie Sherwood.

"Maddy represents a shift in our recruitment policy where we want to sign young, hungry and coachable players to continue to shape our way moving forward."

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Swansea City are to face Portuguese top-flight side Rio Ave in their final pre-season friendly at the Swansea.com Stadium on Saturday, 3 August (15:00 BST).

The game will be Swansea’s final warm-up before they start the new Championship season with a trip to Middlesbrough the following weekend.

It will also be the only opportunity for Swans fans to watch their team in the UK during pre-season.

Rio Ave finished 11th in Portugal’s Primeira Liga last season.

Luke Williams’ Swansea squad head out to Austria for a pre-season training camp next week which will feature friendlies against FC Koln (24 July) and FK Vardar (27 July).