Planned new signing Malick Yalcouye was at the Swansea.Com Stadium to see his potential new teammates bag a 3-1 win over Crawley Town to reach the second round of the Carabao Cup.
The versatile 19-year-old Brighton starlet saw debutant Bobby Wales notch his first goal since joining from Kilmarnock in the summer to add to Ronald’s fourth minute strike.
Then, another new boy, midfielder Ethan Galbraith, wrapped things up.
“Hopefully we can close the loan deal this week and it will be good to have Malick in the building,” said Swansea boss Alan Sheehan of Seagulls youngster Yalcouye.
“He’s a player who will improve us. He has so much energy and he’s very highly rated.
“Some top-league clubs were after him so for him to decide to come here is wonderful. We'll look after him.
"I think when you know the level of clubs that were after him, for him to believe in what we want to do here and decide to come here, it shows we are doing some good work."
The midfielder arrives with valuable experience, having spent last season on loan at Austrian champions Sturm Graz, where he made 26 league appearances and featured in eight Champions League matches.
Brighton signed Yalcouye in the summer of 2024 from IFK Gothenburg for a reported £6m after he had made just 11 senior outings for the Swedish side.
Sheehan believes the youngster’s energy and drive could fill the gap left by Lewis O’Brien, who impressed during a short-term stint at the Swansea.com Stadium last season.
The Swans were hopeful of wrapping up the Yalcouye deal before their Championship opener against Middlesbrough last weekend, but the agreement was delayed.
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Born in Mali, Yalcouye is also an Ivory Coast national and eligible to represent the country internationally.
Having seen his side go down to a 1-0 defeat at Middlesbrough on the opening weekend of the Championship, Sheehan was delighted at the attacking intent his team displayed at home.
“There were a lot of pleasing aspects in our attack although we should have scored five or six,” added Sheehan.
Crawley Town are still awaiting their first win of the season, but at least Kabongo Tshimanga was able to give the League Two side their first goal of the season when he scored in the 75th minute.
Then the Red Devils saw Gavan Holohan sent off seven minutes later to end their hopes of a fightback.
“We can take some encouragement from the fact we were really present in the game. In the second half we pushed them and we looked like the stronger team before the sending off and potentially could have scored another goal to take it to penalties,“ said Crawley boss Scott Lindsey
“We're probably three players away from building our squad and our treatment room is getting full - it's getting tough and we are a big threadbare.”
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Bobby Wales made himself feel very much at home at the Swansea.Com Stadium as he scored within three minutes of coming on to make his debut to help send Swansea City into the second round of the Carabao Cup with a 3-1 triumph over Crawley Town.
The 20-year-old striker was signed from Scottish Premiership club Kilmarnock this summer and wasted no time in making an impact after taking over from Zan Vipotnik up front in the 64th minute.
Up until that point the Swans had struggled to add to the fourth minute goal - their first of the season - from their Brazilian winger Ronald. Chance after chance went begging until Wales turned
A dominant first half performance, which saw the referee rule out a goal from Ethan Galbraith in the 37th minute for offside interference as Vipotnik jumped over the ball to let it go through his legs, and Ronald missed a sitter at the back post as he pushed a cross another new boy, Zeidane Inoussa, over the bar from point blank range.
Crawley keeper Harvey Davies made a string of important saves to further frustrate the home side, while Kabongo Tshimanga gave the League 2 visitors a glimmer of hope with his side’s first goal of the season in the 75th minute.
The sending off of substitute Gavan Holohan for a strong tackle on Goncalo Franco in the 82nd minute then ended their hopes of a fightback and Galbraith added a third for the home side in the fourth minute of an added six minutes.
