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Wales Online
Wales Online
Sport
Ian Mitchelmore

Jefferson Montero's 2,168 days as a Swansea City player summed up in six miserable sentences

The matchwinner. The injury prone star. The enigma.

It's safe to say Jefferson Montero has divided opinion for the vast majority of his Swansea career.

His near six-year association with Swansea City has finally come to an end after it was confirmed he has been released following the expiration of his contract.

The Ecuador international spent a total of 2,168 days - or five years, 11 months and six days - as a Swansea player since joining from Atletico Morelia in 2014.

He had some memorable moments in a Swansea shirt - not least his individual displays against Arsenal's Calum Chambers and Chelsea's Branislav Ivanovic during the Premier League years - although they were generally few and far between.

Stunning cameos against Sheffield United and Millwall last term were the most recent moments that the Jack Army were able to witness Montero's pure majesty.

Simply unplayable on his day, but injuries have plagued the winger's career. And his association with Swansea can unfortunately be summed up in just six stats.

  1. Montero's two goals in his 84 appearances for Swansea come at a rate of one in every 42 matches, or one every 2,052 minutes (approximately one in every 23 full matches).
  2. The winger played just 17 full matches - an average of fewer than three a season - for Swansea, a total of just 6.3% of the games the club played in his time as a Swansea player.
  3. The 30-year-old has featured in just 16.5% of the minutes Swansea have played in competitive matches (4,104 minutes out of 24,924) during his time as a Swansea player.
  4. He started just 36 of the 268 games (13.4%) Swansea played during his time at the club.
  5. He made 40 appearances combined during his loan spells with Getafe, West Brom, Emelec and Birmingham while contracted to Swansea, almost half (47.6%) as many appearances as he actually made for the Swans.
  6. Mike van der Hoorn got more minutes under his belt last season (4,424) than Montero has managed in his entire Swansea career (4,104). Freddie Woodman and Matt Grimes will both achieve the same feat this season if they continue to be ever-presents.

Montero signed from Mexican side Atletico Morelia in 2014 but has not played for Swansea since the 3-3 draw with Birmingham at the Liberty Stadium in January 2019.

All 12 of his appearances under Graham Potter last season came as a substitute.

The winger spent the duration of the current campaign on loan at Birmingham, although the Blues confirmed in May that he would be released on June 30.

It means the wideman is now without a club, with a return to his homeland appearing the most likely outcome for Montero.

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