By Gareth James
Swansea City will go into their derby day clash against Cardiff City, having edged a transfer tussle for players, 2-1, in the final countdown to the game.
The Swans signed central defender Nelson Abbey on a season-long loan from Olympiakos.
They followed that up by landing winger Florian Bianchini from Bastia on a four-year deal for an undisclosed fee.
In reply, Cardiff secured the signature of Manchester United defender Will Fish on a permanent deal.
The fee for the 21-year-old is around £2m and United have included a significant sell-on in the deal.
Fish spent the last two seasons on loan in the Scottish Premiership with Hibs, playing 71 times.
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Abbey, 20, made 31 senior appearances for Reading after coming through the club’s academy, and wore the captain’s armband in League One before leaving the Royals last season as they suffered financial problems.
“I think his signing makes us a stronger squad,” said Swansea head coach Luke Williams.
“He has key performance data that we really like in terms of being able to recover the ground behind him, because we are often very high up the pitch.
“He has shown really good one-v-one ability to defend and he shows a really good attitude towards having the ball, which is where some defenders feel uncomfortable.”
Abbey made four appearances for Olympiakos in the second half of last season but was an unused substitute as they began the new Greek Super League season last weekend.
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Williams added: “I have spoken to him, and he has a really strong personality, he is an intelligent guy and we really like that because we provide a lot of detail to take on board.
“We really like him as a character and a footballer.”
Bianchini, a 23-year-old former France Under-19 international, made his senior breakthrough with Amiens, and had loan spells with Avranches and Chateauroux before making the move to Bastia last summer.
He scored five goals and set up six more in 28 appearances in Ligue 2 last term.
“Florian is very dynamic, he can play on both sides,” said Williams.
“He is very sure-footed, is comfortable with his right and his left foot.
“He has a natural flair and can beat players, and he wants to go at the goal.
“He is a player who can give us a lot of options. He will need a little bit of time to see where he is at, and then to adapt with the intensity of the training, the volume of running and sprint distances.”
For Cardiff, the arrival of Fish has strengthened their defensive options after selling Mark McGuinness to Luton Town.
The 21-year-old Fish is Cardiff’s seventh signing of the summer following Calum Chambers, Chris Willock, Alex Robertson, Wilfried Kanga, Anwar El Ghazi and Daland.
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Manager Erol Bulut said: “He is a young defender, who has been at Manchester United for many years, so has had a good education from them.
“For the last two years he was in Hibernian, so we watched him and we were interested in him in January too.
“We hope that he will progress with us in a good way. He is still 21 years old, just starting his career, and he is good on the ball, good in duels, so he will add to our playing style.”
Bulut will be keeping the faith with goalkeeper Ethan Horvath on Sunday despite the American international’s massive blunder in the 5-0 massacre at Burnley last weekend.
The 29-year-old has conceded seven goals in the opening two games in the Championship ahead of Sunday’s huge south Wales derby clash.
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With no goals at the other end, the Bluebirds are firmly anchored to the bottom of the table.
“It’s always on the line with goalkeepers and it’s not easy for them. I cannot judge Ethan on one mistake, he will have my full support,” said Bulut.
“He didn’t want that mistake to happen and we have to think about the number of goals he has saved. The ball went through his legs, but this happens to the best goalkeepers in the world.
“I think he knows we still count on him and we are behind him. This weekend he will be in goal against Swansea.”
Also ready to take his place at Swansea.Com Stadium is the inspirational Welsh skipper Aaron Ramsey, who limped out of the game at Turf Moor with an ankle injury.
“It looked like it was a really bad twisted ankle, but he trained on Wednesday and everything is fine. He will be with us on Sunday,” added Bulut.
“I said after Burnley that I don’t need to talk too much about the next game – it’s a derby. In fact it’s more than a derby for us and for sure for them.
“All my players have to be prepared for Sunday and we want to change the result down there last season.”
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