Swansea City are closing in completing a loan move for Seattle Sounders forward Jordan Morris.
Steve Cooper was keen to strengthen his forward options before the opening of the January window and those efforts have become all the more pronounced on the back of the departures of Morgan Gibbs-White, Kasey Palmer and Viktor Gyokeres.
Having been heavily linked with Crawley's Max Watters, who in the end joined arch-rivals Cardiff City, it seems Cooper has now found his man in Morris.
It is hoped that he will arrive in South Wales on Wednesday to complete his move.
But what sort of player will Swansea be getting?
We spoke to Sounders expert and writer at The Athletic Matt Pentz to get the full lowdown.
What's been the initial reaction across the Atlantic to Morris' impending Swansea move?
I think folks are a little bit underwhelmed, to be completely frank. Given that Morris has been linked to Premier League, Serie A and Bundesliga clubs pretty much from his rookie season onward, him landing in the Championship was a bit of a surprise.
I actually think a promotion push could be really good for him — and for the Swans — but others seem more pessimistic.
What sort of player is he? He seems to have a fairly strong reputation in the States.
Morris' pace is always what typically tends to come up first, with good reason. He really is that dynamic in how he can get in behind opposing defences. But he's been a more well-rounded player since he came back from his knee injury: able to set up goals as well as score them, working on his left foot as well as his favoured right.
Does he have what it takes to score goals in the Championship?
I know MLS still has a mixed reputation abroad, but as a regular viewer of the Championship myself, I do think Morris' game will translate really well. He scored double-digit goals (plus close to that in assists) in each of the past two seasons. He's also proven to be a mentally tough guy who tends to perform at his best when the stakes are highest. I suspect he'll rise to this challenge.
At 26, he's been linked with a few European sides before. Why hasn't a move materialised?
That's been Morris' prerogative from the start. He went on trial with Werder Bremen prior to signing with Seattle out of college, and he ultimately decided that it was best for his development to stay inside his comfort zone. He's a Seattle native, wanted to represent his home-town club, and at this point, it's hard to argue with his progression.
That aforementioned knee injury also likely pushed back his timeline a couple of years.
It's understood that this move could become permanent, do you think this is goodbye? Particularly if Swansea win promotion to the Premier League.
That much still isn't clear, until this goes official and more details come out. My read on it is that Morris is looking at this as an opportunity to get in the European shop window, first and foremost, but that's just conjecture, at this point.
He's currently with the US team for their January training camp. Will that have any effect on things?
It might impact the timeline a little, but I'd be willing to bet that he's anxious to hit the ground running in Swansea. I doubt the US team will begrudge him that - if anything this move seems partially precipitated by his needing to keep up with the U.S.'s younger generation, like Chelsea's Christian Pulisic and Juventus' Weston McKennie, who have started to establish themselves abroad.
