Paul Clement wants to reload Swansea City’s forward armoury in a bid to keep them in the Premier League.
The Swans manager – whose team could be five points adrift of safety by the time they meet Everton on Monday if other results went against them – has told the clubs owners that front players should be the priority in the January transfer window.
Clement’s rock-bottom side have only scored nine goals in 17 matches so far this season, comfortably the lowest total in the league.
By contrast, even allowing for the four goals they leaked in defeat to Manchester City in midweek, they have conceded only 22 – less than four of the five clubs above them.
It’s a discrepancy that Clement will try to address as soon as possible by bringing in more firepower.
“The owners know it’s clear we need to strengthen and my view is that we have to strengthen the forward positions as a priority,” said Clement.
“We had a reasonable defensive record before the Man City game for a club of our size in this league, but then you look at the goals and ability to create, it’s nowhere near what you need to stay in this league. This is the priority.
“Last season we had two players who made the difference. Difference makers – you have to have those.
“We had Gylfi (Sigurdsson) and Fernando (Llorente) last season. Fernando scored 15 goals and Gylfi got 10 and more assists than that.
“They made the difference. The other players provided a stable platform for them to do that, but this year we haven’t had that, up to this point.”
Clement wants to bring in at least three players who can fit straight into his starting line-up and has been brutally honest about the levels set by his squad this season.
“Absolutely, this team is full of players who have not performed up to their potential for various reasons, whether it’s because they’ve not had a consistent run in the team, or whether the confidence has been affected by the whole situation regarding the squad. I’d be surprised if you brought all the players in one-by-one and said, ‘have you played at your absolute best this season?’
“Hopefully, a couple of good players who can come straight into the starting XI then everyone can come up a level and perform to their potential.
“New faces are good, they provide competition and they can help with belief. When you see you have someone you know is going to score, it gives you that belief.
“When we had Ronaldo at Real Madrid, we knew we had a one goal head start every game. However bad he played, and he had some bad games, we knew he would score.
“With Gylfi and Fernando, the other players would look at them and knew we had a chance of scoring. But belief can come back into the team if we can get players like that.”
