Swansea City massively hit the jackpot with £2m star and these 5 others | OneFootball

We took a look at some of the best signings Swansea City have made in the last 20 years

The last 20 years have seen Swansea City enjoy some of the greatest days in their history and there have been plenty of star signings who have played an important role in that.

Twenty years ago, Swansea were a League Two side, winning promotion to League One in 2005 before further promotions in 2008 and 2011 saw them reach the Premier League.

Of course, Swansea are now back in the second tier after their seven-year spell in the Premier League came to an end in 2018 but given the many years they spent in the lower echelons of English football, it's easy to forget that being in the Championship is an achievement in itself for the Swans.

Given their whirlwind 20 years, we've taken a look at six of Swansea's best signings during that period.

Michu

There's only one place to start and that's with Michu, who Swansea famously signed for a fee of just £2 million from Rayo Vallecano in 2012.

The attacker was an unknown quantity in English football, but it didn't take long to make his mark, scoring 22 goals in all competitions during the 2012/13 campaign as Swansea lifted the League Cup and finished 9th in the Premier League.

He also began the next campaign brightly, scoring a handful of goals in Swansea's Europa League qualifiers and early Premier League games, earning a call-up to the Spanish national team.

However, injuries were taking a toll, and after a loan spell at Napoli where he barely featured, Michu joined an amateur side in Spain before retiring in 2017 thanks to an injury to his right ankle which hampered him in the years prior.

Lukasz Fabianksi

In the summer of 2014, Swansea faced the unenviable task of trying to replace Michel Vorm, who had joined Tottenham, and Lukasz Fabianki's signing on a free from Arsenal perhaps didn't excite Swansea supporters too much.

After all, Fabianski had never been first choice at the Emirates Stadium and didn't have the best of reputations but he was a player transformed at Swansea.

He made 150 appearances for the club, keeping 39 clean sheets, no mean feat when you consider Swansea were struggling for large parts of his time at the club, and he developed a reputation as one of the league's best shot-stoppers.

He sealed a move to West Ham for £7 million after Swansea's relegation in 2018, and at the age of 39 he remains the Hammers' first-choice goalkeeper.

Angel Rangel

Roberto Martinez visited Spain to buy a striker in the summer of 2007 and came back with a £10,000 right-back in the form of Angel Rangel.

Having played in the lower echelons of Spanish football, nobody knew what to expect from Rangel when he arrived in SA1, but he proved to be an excellent signing and played an important role in helping the club progress through the divisions.

He became a mainstay in the starting XI for the best part of a decade, helping the club reach the Premier League in 2011 and remaining with them until relegation in 2018.

In total, Rangel made 374 appearances for the club, and despite a spell at QPR after leaving the Swans, he's made Swansea his home and has even developed a Welsh accent.

Nathan Dyer

Initially signed on loan from Southampton in January 2009, Dyer made his stay in South Wales a permanent one the following summer and would spend the next 11 years at the Swansea.com Stadium.

He was instrumental in Swansea winning promotion to the Premier League in 2011, and he proved capable of making the step-up to the top-flight, with his pace causing defenders all sorts of problems.

There was a brief loan spell to Leicester City in 2015 where Dyer lifted the Premier League title, adding to the League Cup he had won with Swansea in 2013, where he scored two goals in the final.

He departed the club in 2020 before announcing his retirement after making 347 appearances, scoring 38 goals and registering 32 assists.

Wilfried Bony

Swansea smashed their record transfer fee in the summer of 2013 when they forked out £12 million to sign Wilfried Bony from Vitesse Arnhem.

Bony had an impressive record in the Netherlands but with all his senior experience coming in the Czech Republic and the Netherlands, it remained to be seen how he'd fare in England.

However, he proved an excellent signing, scoring 26 goals during the 2013/14 season, before adding another nine during the first half of the following campaign before sealing a move to Manchester City.

Bony scored more Premier League goals than anyone else during the 2014 calendar year, and while he'd later return to Swansea, he wouldn't hit the same heights, but his initial spell at the club was a special one.

Ashley Williams

Centre-back Ashley Williams joined Swansea City on loan in March 2008 from Stockport County, just two days after making his international debut for Wales, and he'd become a legend for both club and country in the years that followed.

After a successful loan spell that helped Swansea win the League One title, he agreed a permanent deal the following summer worth £400,000, the club's record transfer fee at the time.

Over the course of the next eight years, he'd become a mainstay in the Swans' starting XI, captaining them in the Premier League and leading them to League Cup success in 2012.

He'd remain with the club until the summer of 2016, joining Everton for a fee of £12 million after impressing for Wales that summer, captaining them to the semi-finals of the Euros.

While his time at Everton wasn't a huge success, he'd spend time on loan with Stoke City before joining Bristol City for a season prior to his retirement in 2020.