Swansea City must push to sign Ronald 2.0 before February 3rd | OneFootball

Swansea City could benefit from repeating a left-field transfer gamble taken last January

Swansea City are looking to make moves in the January transfer window, and that ambition should lead them to a repeat of the deal which took the then-little-known Brazilian attacker Ronald Pereira from Portugal to South Wales twelve months ago.

It could well shape up to be an intriguing second-half of the 2024/25 Championship campaign for the Jack Army, who are now under fresh ownership following the sale of the club by Jason Levien and Steve Kaplan to Andy Coleman.

Swansea currently find themselves in faint contention to finish the season in a play-off place, although such a possibility appears far from likely given the considerable ground to make up.

However, Luke Williams is going to want to add to his squad not only for the remainder of the campaign, but also for long-term purposes as he looks to develop this Swansea side deep into the future. The ex-Notts County head coach is known to value experience but the majority of his signings since heading to the Swansea.com Stadium have been of a younger profile, including the aforementioned Ronald.

Swansea City, Luke Williams' Ronald transfer gamble paid off

Swansea decided to take a considerable risk by acquiring the tricky Brazilian winger - full name Ronald Pereira Martins - from Portuguese outfit Estrela for a reported fee in excess of £1 million just twelve months ago.

They had endured a slow transfer window and Ronald was the club's - and Williams' - first signing with just days to spare, although he almost instantly made the wait worthwhile for the Jack Army faithful.

Ronald left an immediate impression with his tricky, quick feet and jinking runs at opposition full-backs, as he brought the archetypal Brazilian flair and flamboyance to SA1 and quickly became a fan favourite.

The 23-year-old opened his account by scoring a first-half brace to inspire a hard-fought 2-1 victory away at Sunderland in February, but his crowning moment arguably arrived with a blitzing display in Swansea's South Wales Derby triumph over bitter rivals Cardiff City the following month.

Ronald was, at least from an offensive perspective, the best player on the pitch by some distance as he famously left then-Cardiff full-back Josh Wilson-Esbrand with twisted blood.

Like many second-tier wingers, inconsistency has been encountered and Ronald blew somewhat hot and cold throughout the remainder of the season, although he did go on to add his third league goal in a 4-0 rout of Huddersfield Town and still finished the campaign with a positive impression.

This time around, Ronald has continued to catch the eye and has managed to offer even more in terms of direct output, establishing himself as a key creative asset in Williams' frontline by grabbing a number of assists.

Swansea City should sign Ronald 2.0 in the January transfer window

Twelve months on from Ronald's arrival, the club could do considerably worse than emulating this sort of deal.

Swansea remain in need of additional wide options and will be keen to source a winger this month, just as they did with Ronald last year.

Having spent the last few years competing in mid-table, Swansea aren't typically big-spenders and likely won't be this month in spite of the club's fairly-recent sale, so one could quite reasonably imagine the Championship side dipping into more cut-price deals in foreign, lesser-tapped-into markets.

That's precisely what happened with Ronald, who has proven the benefit of casting your recruitment net further afield to spot potential bargains in markets that aren't as commonly explored by domestic counterparts. Swansea know all about that, of course, having signed the likes of Ji-Sung Eom (Gwangju FC) and midfield star Goncalo Franco, who also arrived from Portugal last summer.

They should keep with that blueprint when it comes to addressing their attacking issues this month - with Ronald's success in mind.