These are your Swansea City headlines on Friday, August 12.
Joseph glad to be wanted by U's
Kyle Joseph says he's glad to feel wanted by Oxford United following his loan switch to the club.
Joseph has attracted plenty of transfer interest this summer and opted to join Karl Robinson's men on loan for the duration of the 2022/23 campaign this week. And the versatile forward admits he's confident that he'll get chances to score many goals with the Kassam Stadium outfit.
READ MORE: Kyle Naughton reveals reason why players want to sign for Swansea City as he discusses 'class' duo
"I'm delighted to be here. It's been in the pipeline for quite a while," he told the Oxford United website. "The club showed a real willingness to try and get me. That's what you always want as a player, to feel wanted.
"That was one of the main things coming here, I knew I'd get chances to score goals. They scored the most goals in the league last year. I think there's a lot of learning and developing for me to do as well."
Sheffield Wednesday and Portsmouth are among the clubs who are understood to have monitored Joseph's situation in recent months, although Joseph had his heart set on a move to Oxford following his discussions with boss Robinson. Speaking about the 20-year-old, the Oxford head coach said: "Kyle offers us a great option in our forward positions and with his high energy I’m confident he will fit in straight away.
"He’s a young, pacey player who will provide us with another attacking threat.”
Laird to join QPR
Former Swansea loan man Ethan Laird's proposed loan move to Watford is off - and a deal with QPR is imminent. The Telegraph report the youngster is close to a move to Loftus Road for the upcoming campaign.
Laird's likely move puts Swansea's search for a right wingback further into focus.
Laird - and after him Cyrus Christie - was instrumental to Swansea's attacking play down the right-hand side last term. If the Manchester United youngster had stayed the whole campaign he would have been a candidate for player of the season, he was that important.
Christie did a good job in filling in for the youngster and it all looked promising in terms of keeping him in south Wales once his contract expired with Fulham. But then it all went cold.
He's still a free agent, and has been linked with Preston and Birmingham City in recent weeks.
Swansea are in desperate need of some injection on the right side of defence. It's just over two weeks until the window closes.
Young gun will shine with belief
Russell Martin believes Ollie Cooper will become an important player for Swansea in the future if he can fully believe in his own capabilities.
The 22-year-old impressed at Newport County last season and is expected to remain with the Swans this term having caught the eye of head coach Martin. He was handed his first start of the campaign in Tuesday's Carabao Cup clash with Oxford United and was a key figure in Swansea's dominant first-half display.
Cooper ended the contest at the Kassam Stadium having made six tackles, an interception, one key pass while boasting a pass completion rate of 85.7 per cent.
And Martin believes Cooper can have an impact at Swansea. "Really pleased. That role he did for us throughout pre-season, playing with someone as experienced as Jay Fulton certainly helped," said Martin when asked about Cooper's display at Oxford.
"I was really impressed with him. He's someone who needs to believe in himself more, and really believe he can impact things here. He's a great kid and he has a lot of ability as you can see. He's very flexible and versatile in terms of tactically and the positions he can play in.
"It's about building belief in him that he can really impact things because I think he's definitely got a role to play for us in the future."
Duo ready to start
Ben Cabango and Joe Allen are both ready to start for Swansea having featured at Oxford United on Tuesday.
Cabango has been sidelined with an ankle injury while Allen sustained a hamstring problem during international duty with Wales in June.
However, both players were involved in the Swans' Carabao Cup penalty shootout defeat at Oxford and are now understood to be available to start, should Martin wish to thrust either player straight into his line-up.
Pundit backs Blackpool
David Prutton believes Swansea need a win soon if they are to stand any chance of keeping pace with those at the top of the Championship.
The Swans go into Saturday's clash with Blackpool having failed to win any of their opening three matches of the campaign, although the Tangerines have also endured a tough week themselves after losing against Stoke City and Barrow.
However, pundit Prutton does not believe Swansea will get up and running for the campaign when they take on Michael Appleton's men at the weekend.
"Blackpool didn't have a single shot on target in the weekend defeat to Stoke and were another team who exited the League Cup at the first stage on Tuesday, so it has not been the most positive few days at Bloomfield Road," he wrote for Sky Sports. "That will not have been helped by the fact strikers Jake Beesley and Gary Madine are injured, either.
"Swansea dominated the ball against Blackburn last time out in the league, but were left reeling from a pretty comprehensive 3-0 defeat. They were also dumped out in the first cup game of the season.
"You feel Russell Martin's men need to get that first win of the season on the board soon if they want to keep up with the early pace-setters. I'm not sure it will come here, though."
David Prutton's prediction: Blackpool 2-1 Swansea City
READ NEXT:
