Swansea City will, early next week, complete the two widely expected loan deals for Carl Rushworth and Harrison Ashby bringing much needed reinforcements to the squad with the first match of the new season taking place a week today.
The Swans will bring to a halt their pre-season fixtures this afternoon at Reading and their final preparations for that first fixture against Birmingham will have a boost with the arrival of the Premier League duo.
It was back on 13 July that we first reported about the move for Rushworth whilst a few days later the name of Ashby was added to our list of potential signings as the Swans moved to strengthen a squad that has shown just what it needed in the past week or so following some disappointing pre-season results.
Both are expected in SA1 next week to complete the final formalities of the move and, equally, both are expected to be in the Swans line up next weekend when the Championship season starts.
Rushworth has had impressive loan spells in the last two seasons at Walsall and Lincoln and Brighton are now keen to see if he can make a further step up to Championship level. Given his international credentials (and England Under-21 international) that should definitely be something within his grasp.
Rushworth was, of course, part of the England squad that was victorious in the recent Euro Under-21 tournament whilst there is still that small fact that he was once touted for a move to Barcelona
For Ashby, it was a £3m fee that persuaded West Ham to part company with the player in January and whilst he is yet to make his senior debut for the Magpies he is highly rated at St. James Park and was an unused substitute for their last two Premier League games of last season.
He has been tipped as the next Kieran Trippier but Newcastle are keen to see him get reguar first team football hence his impending move to SA1.
Ironically the two of them were on opposite sides as Newcastle beat Brighton 2-1 in the summer series at the Red Bull Arena, New Jersey in the early hours of this morning. Ashby was a starter for Newcastle whilst Rushworth was an unused substitute for Brighton.
The good news for Swans fans is that this is not likely to be the end of the summer dealing and we are fully expecting to see a third transfer completed next week as the Swans move on in on a defensive target whilst discussions remain ongoing for a striker to replace Joel Piroe who is still expected to leave Swansea shortly.
It may have been a frustrating week with Buchanan a target that the Swans have missed out on but it is not a case of standing still and next week will prove just that.
