Would Tottenham’s Alex Pritchard be a good fit for Swansea?

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As Swansea boss Francesco Guidolin looks to bolster his attacking options at the Liberty Stadium, according to the Daily Mirror, one signing he is reportedly keen on is that of 23-year old Tottenham Hotspur playmaker Alex Pritchard.  The creative young winger came through the ranks at Spurs after leaving West Ham as a 15-year old and having spent the majority of his career at White Hart Lane out on loan to Football League clubs, he has become highly rated amongst the Tottenham contingent due to his form lower down the pyramid.

After two impressive spells with Peterborough United and Swindon Town, Pritchard spent a season on loan with West London club Brentford in 2014/15, scoring 12 goals and clocking up a further seven assists for Mark Warburton’s team as the Bees reached the Championship playoffs. They were eventually overcome by eventual beaten-finalists Middlesbrough, but the youngster was only making a bigger name for himself. Pritchard found last season tougher going having missed a large part of the campaign through injury, and struggled for form and football when loaned out to West Bromwich Albion.

The Mirror‘s reckoning is that parent club Tottenham are now ready to cash in on the player, and that the Swans are tabling a bid of £8m in order to bring the winger to South Wales. Former Spurs players Kyle Naughton and Gylfi Sigurdsson currently ply their trade at the Liberty Stadium, and the offer of first team football and the familiarity of former teammates may well help make Pritchard an ideal fit for the Welsh club should Daniel Levy sanction the deal.

Leeds United and Newcastle United are two potential suitors who would be interested in taking the youngster out on loan, with Pritchard’s price tag slightly beyond their financial reach. But after four loans away from North London, a permanent move away from White Hart Lane may well be best for the player regarding his long-term development, since he can finally settle down in more stable surroundings and play first-team football more regularly. And Swansea may well offer that.

After an exodus of forwards, Guidolin is seeking out a player who can help bolster his attacking options in his preferred 4-3-3 formation, and given his creative presence, Pritchard could well fit the bill featuring on his preferred left-side of the attacking three or perhaps in the midfield to drive the attack further forward and create opportunities from deep. He is also a proficient set-piece taker, exhibited by some of his goals from free-kicks during his spells out on loan, an area from which Swansea from direct attempts at goal or providing service to forwards or tall centre-halves like Ashley Williams, may well look to profit.

So there is no doubt of Pritchard’s potential to dislodge Jefferson Montero or the ageing Wayne Routledge and force himself into the first-team reckoning at Swansea. The Swans did manage 42 goals in their 38 Premier League games last season, but with their top scorer in André Ayew providing the biggest contribution of 12 from the wing, as an issue with misfiring centre-forwards still looms large over Guidolin’s head- and indeed several of those are headed for the exit door- he may look to more goals from his wider players in  the forward three and after Pritchard netted 12 in the Championship, there is plenty of reason to suggest that the youngster may well be capable of a reasonable goal-return for the club, to help relieve some of the pressure on Ayew as the team’s main source of goals.

With European pedigree as a coach during his time in Italy, Guidolin will be looking for Swansea to improve on their 12th-place finish last season and grace the Europa League as they did in 2013/14 courtesy of their Capital One Cup triumph the season before. To help match these ambitions, strength in depth is necessary for Swansea and in the areas in need of strengthening, Pritchard on paper seems a good fit, and the prospect of regular first-team football and a chance for the youngster to really concentrate on his game may make it a match made in heaven for both the player and his potential employers.

Swansea are well equipped in wide areas granted, but the player has age on his side and even if he initially encounters trouble in dislodging the more-experienced wide players, he can expect to see himself in the first-team picture the longer he remains at the club and as he begins to peak with age he may well be a strong acquisition for the long-term as well as immediate future at Swansea. For now, the ball in in Tottenham’s court, and both player and club will be waiting on what Levy and the board decide is the best course of action over the future of their asset.