Kristian Pedersen? 3 Swansea City players that need to prove a point in pre-season or risk 2024/25 axe | OneFootball

We take a look at the Swansea City players who need to impress Luke Williams in pre-season

Highlights

With pre-season training just around the corner for Swansea City, there's a number of players who will be aware that this could be their final chance to impress Luke Williams.

Pre-season training is often a strange time, as players who aren't in the manager's plans or have been away on loan return to their club sometimes knowing they're about to be sold, so how Swansea's squad will look on the first day of pre-season isn't how it will look when the Championship season gets underway.

Out of favour Swansea players will know they need a good pre-season to have any chance of being an important player in Williams' side when the 2024/25 campaign gets underway, and it feels like the last chance for a number of players to save their Swansea careers.

With that in mind, here are the Swansea City players that need to prove a point in pre-season.

Kristian Pedersen

Danish international defender Kristian Pedersen made just five appearances for Swansea City last season before being loaned to Sheffield Wednesday in January, and he needs a good pre-season to have any chance of remaining at the club.

His time on loan at Wednesday was unsuccessful too, playing just four games for the Owls, so it's an important summer of Pedersen's career in general, not just his Swansea one.

The former Birmingham City man signed a two-year deal in south Wales after joining from FC Koln, so it really is Pedersen's last opportunity to save his Swansea career.

The one-cap Denmark international has plenty of Championship experience, playing 163 second tier games, thanks to a four-year spell at Birmingham, so he's certainly got something to offer Swansea.

His first year at the club saw him suffer from injuries and the manager who signed him was sacked, but this summer should be a fresh start and Pedersen will be looking to force his way into Williams' plans.

Nathan Tjoe-A-On

Swansea fans could be forgiven for forgetting that they had signed Indonesian left-back Nathan Tjoe-A-On last summer as the 22-year-old is yet to make a first-team appearance for the club.

The Swans paid £300,000 to sign him from Dutch outfit Excelsior Rotterdam last summer, but his time at the Swansea.com Stadium has been a miserable one.

Like fellow defender Pedersen, he was loaned out in January, with Tjoe-A-On joining Dutch side Heerenveen, but he made just four substitute appearances for the Eredivisie side, totaling just 19 minutes.

The 22-year-old will return to SA1 for pre-season training, and will look to force his way into Williams' plans, but if he fails to do so, it won't be a surprise to see him leave, with a number of clubs interested in him.

Wales Online have reported that Championship rivals Oxford United, along with Dutch sides FC Emmen and Almere City want to sign the Rotterdam-born defender this summer, but Tjoe-A-On's short-term priority will be trying to impress Swansea's coaching staff in pre-season.

Mykola Kukharevych

Another one of Swansea's 2023 summer signings who has had a miserable time of it in south Wales, striker Mykola Kukharevych faces a big summer if he's to break into Swansea's plans.

The 22-year-old joined from French side Troyes last summer after impressing on loan in Scotland with Hibernian, but he's failed to impress at Swansea, although he hasn't played too often.

He played 13 games for Swansea last season, scoring just once, and he played just 27 minutes of league football following the arrival of Williams in early January.

This suggests that the former MK Dons boss isn't overly impressed with the Ukraine U23 international, but this summer gives the striker the perfect opportunity to make an impression in pre-season training and give his manager no option but to select him.