Swansea earned plenty of plaudits for their recruitment, with 12 players joining the squad this summer and a major clear-out in the form of departures.
That led to claims they had “won” the window - at least as far as the Championship is concerned - where they had the second biggest net spend after Wrexham.
But things are never black and white, a fact illustrated by the news that director of football Richard Montague - nominally the man in charge of those dealings - has now left the club.
Sheehan, though, is more than happy with the club’s business as he looks ahead to Saturday’s home game against Hull City, in the resumption of the Championship after the international break.
Asked if he “won the window”, he said: “I don't know. I don't know who we're competing against, really.
“In terms of what we did, I think we did good business. Depth-wise, I think we are in a better place than we were at the start of the window.
“So, that's what we want to do in every window. I think that is a strategy the ownership want. We want to improve, we want to get better, obviously.
“The on-pitch performances mean you attract better players.
“So that's credit to everybody at the football club and the work that's been done because I do feel like we are evolving and getting into a better place.”
READ MORE: Swansea City 'Win the Championship Transfer Window'
The Swans signed the following dozen players: Manuel Benson (loan), Cameron Burgess, Kaelan Casey (loan), Paul Farman, Ethan Galbraith, Adam Idah, Zeidane Inoussa, Ishe Samuels-Smith (loan), Ricardo Santos, Marko Stamenic, Bobby Wales and Malick Yalcouye (loan).
Swansea’s owners, Brett Cravatt and Jason Cohen, have backed Sheehan in the transfer market to the extent that £6m was paid for Celtic and Republic of Ireland striker Idah, a figure they had not come close to spending since they fell out of the Premier League in 2018.
The bookmakers may not yet be wholly convinced - the Swans remain 14th favourites for promotion - but they currently sit seventh in the table and expectations among supporters is on an upward curve.
“I think we're making progress as a football club,” added Sheehan.
“I think we can all agree on that. But where we are right now, we're nowhere near where we need to be.
“We've got something to chase, but we've got some incredibly difficult games coming up. We’ve got Hull, Nottingham Forest (Carabao Cup), Birmingham away, so there's different challenges.”
The loss of Montague is likely to raise eyebrows among supporters, given that he arrived at the club only seven months ago to "spearhead the club's recruitment strategy".
But Sheehan has sung the praises of Adam Worth this summer, who was promoted to global head of analytics and recruitment in April, and when asked about Montague, Sheehan said: That's an ownership issue.
"My duty is to take care of stuff on the football pitch – I am sure you can appreciate that. That's what I am going to focus on right now and I cannot comment on that."
After easing fears of relegation for a second straight season, Swansea ended last year in 11th place thanks to a strong late run of form.
The team finished 14th in 2023–24, 10th in 2022–23, and 15th the season before.
Prior to that, the club reached the play-offs twice under Steve Cooper in 2020 and 2021, following a 10th-place finish in their first campaign back in the Championship.
The bookies don’t see the Swans as likely promotion candidates, despite their extensive player recruitment, and Sheehan is at pains to stress no dramatic improvements will be achieved unless the fundamentals that underpinned their resurgence last season are again maintained.
“We've been a good team, but ultimately we know that there's such a long way to go in the Championship and we have to be consistent - Saturday, Wednesday, Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday.
“You have to have a squad able to compete in different games. In the championship there are 46 games, so there many different challenges.
“We want to be quite flexible but ultimately we want to find that consistency and that's what we're going to be chasing.”
One player who will not be joining Swansea is former England midfielder Dele Alli, who had been linked with the club as a free agent.
“I can rule that out,” said Sheehan.
"We've done our business unless something dramatically changes. Obviously Dele Alli is a wonderful player, so I don't want to comment anything on him or where he is, or how he's playing but I would say no right now.”
READ MORE: Zan is Still the Man For Swansea City As Deadline Day Looms
