Swansea City manager Paul Clement has given the first hint that the club are contemplating the prospect of relegation.
Clement insists that most of his thinking on recruitment is geared towards the Swans avoiding relegation from the Premier League.
But as the manager prepares to try and further strengthen a squad who currently occupy bottom spot, with their next match at Liverpool on Saturday, he admits there is a consideration of Championship football next season.
Clement has already signed three players in little more than a fortnight since being appointed Swansea head coach.
But critics have been quick to suggest that defender Martin Olsson, midfielder Tom Carroll and winger Luciano Narsingh – signed for a combined cost of around £13million – are not the game-changers bottom-placed Swansea need to avoid dropping into the Championship.
“I would say 90-95 percent is thinking about the players we have brought in is to have an impact now,” Clement said ahead of Saturday’s daunting trip to Liverpool.
“But it would be naive from my point of view, and the club’s point of view, not to think beyond that, just from an economical point of view.
“It does not look hopeless, we are one point behind the team outside the relegation zone and not far behind the teams just above that as well.
“That can change very quickly. I don’t have a figure on it (survival).
“We can look back at historical records and say what it takes to stay up, but I am just looking at game to game basis – trying to do the best we can in each and every game.”
Swansea have been linked with strike pair Arouna Kone and Leonardo Ulloa, who are currently out of favour at their respective clubs Everton and Leicester.
Clement refused to confirm whether Swansea are interested in the pair, but he feels prospective deals might not be concluded until the final day of the window on January 31.
On the same night Swansea are at home to Southampton and Clement fears that could force him into taking some peculiar action.
“It is a difficult period now,” Clement said. “We are not close, but we have targets and we are monitoring that very much on a daily basis.
“There is a lot of other things that can affect whether you can do those deals or not, and it’s possible some of those things may run right until the very last days of the window.
“It’s possible I might have to send out a team out to play and I will be in an office on the phone.
“We will be preparing for a very important game here against Southampton that day and we could be also very much on the phones doing last-minute deals.
“I can’t wait for the window to close to be honest, then I know the players I will have going into the last part of the season.”
