Swansea close in on Clucas as Mourinho urges Clement to spend

Published on: 19 August 2017

Swansea manager Paul Clement saw his side swept away by Jose Mourinho's Manchester United

Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has urged Swansea City to spend the money from their £45m sale of Gylfi Sigurdsson on new players.

The Swans are set to make their first signing with Hull midfielder Sam Clucas understood to be close to a move.

In their first game since Sigurdsson's departure to Everton, Swansea were thrashed 4-0 by Mourinho's men.

"I hope that the £45m is to spend, he [Swansea manager Paul Clement] did good work last season," Mourinho said.

"He has one point after two matches, one of them against one of the top six or seven teams [Southampton] so it is not a drama, so keep going."

Swansea defended diligently for long periods against United, trailing 1-0 until a three-goal burst in four second-half minutes gave Mourinho's side a second 4-0 victory from their first two games of the season.

The Welsh side have had a £12m bid for Clucas rejected, but Hull manager Leonid Slutsky said after Hull's defeat at QPR that the midfielder is "preparing to play for another club".

Among Swansea's other transfer targets are West Bromwich Albion winger Nacer Chadli, Manchester City striker Wilfried Bony and Stoke City midfielder Joe Allen.

Despite offering resistance for most of the game, the Swans were blunt in attack and failed to create much in the way of genuine scoring opportunities, mustering just one shot on target.

It was a similar tale on the opening weekend of the campaign as they dug in to secure a goalless draw at Southampton, and Clement believes both those displays have underlined how his squad needs strengthening.

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"The moment Gylfi's going you know you need to do that. Without him, [Fernando] Llorente and Ki [Sung-yueng], when they're out, we are weaker," he said.

"We still have a good squad, but we absolutely need more quality players to come in so we have a chance of being competitive this year.

"The situation is very fluid at the moments: texts, emails and telephone calls are going back and forth between various parties. We hope by the deadline - and someone asked me would it be before Crystal Palace [on 26 August] - but as soon as we can do it the better.

"It could go later in the transfer window but the necessity is there [to make signings], it's clear."

Clement says the club's American owners, Steve Kaplan and Jason Levien, and chairman Huw Jenkins share the view that they need to sign at least two or three players before the transfer window shuts at the end of August.

"Yes, absolutely, reinforced by the performances and results," Clement added.

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"Last week I was more disappointed with performance than the result. A point away in the Premier League is good.

"Today [against United] I am more disappointed with result than some of things I've seen. I think supporters saw that, they were happy with the effort.

"Some of the tactical things, go a goal down you have to try and do something about it and try and get a point."

Source: bbc.com

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