Swansea City are set to face a pivotal period ahead of the forthcoming January transfer window where their business could shape the direction of travel for the rest of the season.

Russell Martin has managed to guide his side on an improved run of form over the last few weeks after what was a slow start to the campaign in terms of results.

That means that despite losing their last game before the international break 4-0 at league leaders AFC Bournemouth, the Swans are only three points adrift of the play-offs.

In January, Swansea will need to make sure that they add the right players to their squad to help provide them with that extra quality to kick on and secure a play-off finish. That is something that they have done very well in each of the last two campaigns with their winter window business.

However, Swansea also face a major dilemma this coming transfer window over what to do regarding the long-term future of the influential Matt Grimes.

Grimes was the subject of a lot of speculation during the summer transfer window. There were reports that both Southampton and Newcastle United were potentially keen on making a move for the midfielder. In the end, neither of those two Premier League clubs came in with an offer though.

That was not the case for Fulham, with the Championship side believed to have had an offer worth around £2.5 million rejected by the Swans for Grimes.

After that failed offer from Fulham, Swansea managed to keep hold of Grimes. The midfielder though has still yet to sign another new contract, which means that he is currently entering into the final few months of his deal with the club.

So, with that in mind, we analyse the potential pros and cons to both selling and keeping the midfielder for the Swans ahead of the winter window…

Selling Grimes

Considering the quality that Grimes possesses, allowing him to leave the club on a free transfer would have to be seen as incredibly poor business from Swansea.

You would imagine that were he under a long-term deal then the Swans would be able to demand a fee of well over £5 million for someone of his standard and importance to the side.

 

 

Therefore, arguably the only real pro to selling Grimes in January would be that the Swans would at least be able to recoup so money for the influential midfielder.

They would still likely be able to get around £2.5 to £3 million for his services from someone in the winter window despite him having just months left to run on his current deal, which is highlighted by Fulham’s offer in the summer.

Getting that money in for Grimes might well be able to help Martin strengthen his squad in the winter window, but it would take an unbelievable signing for them to have anywhere near as much influence on the side as the 26-year-old currently does.

The cons against Selling Grimes are numerous and obvious. The midfielder has shown that he is flourishing under Martin’s style of play and he is getting better and better the longer the season progresses.

Not selling him in January would at least mean that the Swans get to retain his huge influence on the side and that might help them challenge for the play-offs.

Furthermore, not selling Grimes would also show some ambition and strength from Swansea’s hierarchy and show that even when important players do try and run their contracts down they will not be forced into selling if they feel they need the player.

Keeping Grimes

The obvious benefit of keeping Grimes is that Swansea would retain for at least one more half a season a player that has been absolutely crucial to Martin implementing his brand of football across to his squad so quickly.

Grimes has been by a distance Swansea’s most effective distributor in possession this term with him averaging the highest amount of passes per game and he still has the third-highest passing accuracy out of anyone in the squad.

Swansea would not be able to replace Grimes with a player of the same quality in January and therefore anyone that comes into replace him would see a drop off in terms of the Swans’ ability to retain possession and build the play through the thirds.

The midfielder is also very reliable and rarely misses out on games through injury and therefore the Swans could be confident of having him available and performing well for the duration of the second half of the campaign.

One slight extra con though to potentially keeping Grimes is that he might feel he is being denied the chance to fulfill Premier League ambitions if the chance to move to a top-flight club emerges in January.

Even if that is not the case he could become distracted by all the speculation and suffer a dip in performance levels.