Swansea City urged to take transfer action on returning 10-goal Derby County star - Blackpool claim made | OneFootball

FLW's Swansea City fan pundit has been discussing the future of Jerry Yates.

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

The future of Jerry Yates at Swansea City is under serious question this summer as the Swans seek to rebuild under Alan Sheehan, after having finished the 2024-25 season in 11th place in the Championship.

Yates signed for the club from Blackpool in 2023, but only scored eight league goals for the Swans in his one full season with the club before being loaned out to Derby County for the duration of the 2024-25 season, where he scored 10 goals in 42 League appearances for the Rams.

But with Yates' time at Pride Park having come to an end, the player has returned to the Swansea.com Stadium, and one of the questions facing Sheehan this summer is what to do with this player next.

"I wasn't impressed" - Swansea City urged to move Jerry Yates on

FLW asked our Swansea fan pundit Will Hughes what he felt the Swans should do with Yates next, and the player hasn't impressed him.

"I am firmly of the opinion that his time is up at Swansea, for multiple reasons. After what we saw of him during his first season, I wasn't impressed.

"I do think there were a couple of factors that didn't help the situation", he continued. "The chopping and changing of managers, the style of play, the fact that we very clearly recruited him to be one of two strikers that we were going to play with. He was going to be a bigger, target-man striker, but it never worked out, and eventually he was playing on his own."

Will was critical of Yates' application, and pointed out that this couldn't be pinned on the manager: "We never really saw a lot from him. He never got involved, never really touched the ball, never shot, he'd be lucky to get ten touches in a game.

"Could you put that down to Luke Williams? I don't really know, because he was very much the same under Michael Duff and Alan Sheehan."

Will was also aware of the reaction of Derby fans to Yates during the 2024-25 season: "They said he's okay, not that he's a cut above any of their other players. He scored a fairly decent amount of goals, but it wasn't anything too special.

"If he'd scored 20-plus goals for Derby and was one of their big hitters, I'd say 'fair enough, we'll keep him', but the fact that he's got one year left on his contract as well, and we want to sell players who aren't going to be contributing during the season, it may be worth getting rid."

Asked what he feels will come next with Yates, Will said that he feels that dropping back to League One could suit the striker: "I think we should see what he can do in pre-season.

"Alan Sheehan will probably want to give him a go, but if he's not impressed, I think he'll end up going somewhere, probably back to League One.

"I think a move to Blackpool is probably the one that makes the most sense, if they're interested."

A return to League One with Blackpool may suit Yates best

A move back to Bloomfield Road might well suit Yates.

He signed for Swansea in 2023 following three years at Blackpool, during which he scored 42 goals in 123 League matches, including 20 in his first season with the club, as the Tangerines were promoted into the Championship from League One.

This is a player who proved himself at this level with Blackpool, but his previous spells in the Championship haven't offered much evidence that he'll be able to repeat that sort of performance.

Between 2014 and 2019 he made 52 appearances for Rotherham United but only scored twice in the League, and was repeatedly sent out on loan to the lower divisions while with the club.

It may well be the case that he ends up playing below the Championship again next season, and if so, Blackpool could surely do far worse than to take a chance on their former hitman.