Swansea City have agreed a £20m deal with Sheffield United for striker Oliver McBurnie, as reported by the BBC.

The Swans will be guaranteed about £15.5m with £2m going to McBurnie's former club Bradford, due to a 15% sell-on clause, and around £2.5m being additional add-ons.

McBurnie scored 34% of Swansea's league goals last season, with a total of 22. He will be surely missed as they would have hoped to push on from their 10th place finish last year.

Despite the departure, there are a couple of positives Swans supporters can take from the deal.

Financial sustainability

In January, the club's chief operating officer Chris Pearlman admitted they were not prepared to gamble on Premier League promotion by 'rolling the dice'. In addition, he also said there was "no pile of money" to transform Swansea's hopes.

In turn, the 23-year-old's costly exit will prove to be good news for Swansea's finances. Relegation from the Premier League will always strike the club in the heart. Swansea's 2017-18 accounts recorded a £48.3m operating loss before player sales were accounted for.

Even though McBurnie's transfer won't hide the elephant in the room, for what is expected to be another grim reading in their financial accounts, due to the loss of the Premier League TV deal, it will soothe the blow. Sustainable finances is key to a bright future and Swansea will need to take lessons from the model that made them into undeniable bogey team of the Premier League, from League Two.

Investment into youth

With the McBurnie's exit, and the owners seemingly happily to forget to get promotion quickly, it could provide a bright chance to develop youthful products into the squad. Alan Curtis, former Swansea coach and now honourable President of the Welsh side, believes Swansea's future is held in the hands of its youth.

He said to the BBC in September: "Now it's probably about time that the club started to produce our own players. We've spent a lot of money on the Academy, it's a terrific facility.

"The game against Palace, we had a number of boys making their debuts, but some of them have been in the system now maybe as long as seven or eight years.

He added: "So they are probably going to be the future of the club. It's probably the way it used to be many, many years ago."

Curtis' beliefs fall in line with the development Swansea's Academy is making in recent history. They managed to improve their training facilities and were also given the license for their youth teams, from the under-9s to the under-21s to play a higher standard of football.

McBurnie's exit will hurt Swansea in the short-term. His goals will disappear, if Swansea cannot find a good enough replacement. Although, it is clear the money can be used elsewhere so that the Swans can fly into a better future.