Brighton call will dictate Swansea City's summer transfer priorities: View | OneFootball

Swansea City goalkeeper Carl Rushworth has impressed between the sticks this season and the club's summer transfer activity could hinge on Brighton & Hove Albion's decision regarding another loan deal.

In a turbulent season for Swansea, Rushworth has been one of their standout performers. After a debut mistake against Birmingham City which helped them take the lead, Rushworth responded with an incredible diving save to his right to deny Ivan Šunjić a late winner.

The goalkeeper has not looked back since and has made a host of magnificent saves, including a key double save in a 2-1 victory over Plymouth Argyle at Home Park.

The Halifax-born shot-stopper tops the league in terms of goal-prevention numbers. According to statistics from FBREF.com, Rushworth has a post-shot expected goals minus goals allowed value of +5.4, meaning that he has saved the Swans from conceding over five more goals than they had been expected to.

In South Wales, the 22-year-old works with goalkeeping coach Martyn Margetson, who is also Gareth Southgate's goalkeeper coach for England. According to the Mirror, the Swansea goalkeeper is in line for a surprise call-up to the England manager's squad for the upcoming UEFA European Championship in Germany.

Brighton's goalkeeping issues

Brighton made the signing of Netherlands U21 international goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen from Anderlecht in the summer for a reported £16.3 million, according to MailOnline. He replaced Spanish goalkeeper Robert Sánchez in the Brighton squad after he departed for Chelsea.

Despite being Anderlecht's 2022/23 Player of the Season, Verbruggen has failed to hold down a starting spot this season for Brighton and has been regularly rotated with Jason Steele.

Both goalkeepers have performed to a poor standard in the Premier League this season. The previously mentioned post-shot expected goals minus goals allowed statistic shows that both goalkeepers are conceding more goals than they should be. According to FBREF.com, Verbruggen has a value of -0.9 and Steele has an awful -3.2.

Steele was also in goal when Roma smashed four goals past the Seagulls in the UEFA Europa League round of 16 first leg; Verbruggen's clean sheet in the second leg wasn't enough to stop his team from crashing out of the competition 4-1 on aggregate.

Roberto De Zerbi must address his team's goalkeeping issues in the summer, and this could involve integrating Rushworth into the first team set-up given his form at Swansea.

Swansea should prioritise a forward this summer

According to the BBC, Swansea manager Luke Williams expects his star loanee goalkeeper to stay for next season. If true, this allows the club to reorganise their transfer priorities in the summer to an area of greater need.

Williams' Notts County team were renowned for their goal-scoring exploits. When he left to take on the Swansea managerial position in January, Notts County had scored 55 league goals, which was the most goals of any team in the top four divisions of England. Swansea are yet to break that tally of goals and are only on 53 so far.

Former Blackpool striker Jerry Yates made the move to the Swansea.com Stadium in the summer for a reported £2.5 million, according to the BBC. The striker managed 14 goals for a Tangerines side who were relegated from the Championship last season but has managed just half that tally in the current campaign.

The Swans' other recognised strikers, Jamal Lowe and Liam Cullen, only have eight and seven goals respectively in the league this season.

With Jamaican international Lowe's future unclear, and Cullen's contract expiring at the end of the season, City could be even more short on goals.

It should be a priority for Swansea to invest in a new striker, regardless of Brighton's decision regarding Rushworth, but that decision will be made simpler if they retain the England hopeful in 2024/25.