Swansea City will have serious Sheffield United, Nottingham Forest envy from Steve Cooper deal | OneFootball

The Swans missed out on the very best of Morgan Gibbs-White after he suffered an injury during his loan spell in 2020/21.

Swansea City headed into the 2020/21 campaign off the back of a play-off semi-final defeat to Brentford, and they were looking to take that next step and return to the Premier League after two years in the Championship.

With Steve Cooper at the helm, the Swans were well-placed to make it to back-to-back top six finishes, but they wanted more and with the defeat to the Bees still in the back of their minds, they started to make changes in the summer transfer window.

Korey Smith, Jamal Lowe and Joel Latibeaudiere were the first three permanent signings made by the now former Leicester City boss, while Freddie Woodman was brought in on loan to help strengthen the goalkeeping department.

More additions were made across the board, but it was the addition of one young loanee from Wolverhampton Wanderers that piqued interest, as Morgan Gibbs-White looked to help Swansea to promotion to the Premier League.

Gibbs-White's time with the Swans was plagued by an injury

The attacking midfielder had impressed at his parent club, and he made a handful of appearances for the West Midlands outfit in the previous season before joining the Swans for the season.

He was seen as the perfect replacement for Conor Gallagher in the middle of the park, who had spent the latter half of 2019/20 in South Wales, and having worked with Cooper before with England U17s, he knew exactly what was expected of him.

Gibbs-White made his debut against Newport County in the Carabao Cup a couple of weeks after his move was confirmed, before making his league bow for Swansea against Preston North End just seven days later.

He impressed greatly against the Lilywhites, finding the back of the net for the only goal of the game at Deepdale.

The Swans started the season strongly, winning three of their first four matches while only dropping points to Birmingham City in a 0-0 draw. However, for their Wolves loanee, his campaign was about to change quickly.

He suffered a broken foot against Millwall, and he missed the next three months of action, while Swansea continued to progress up the Championship table. He made a five-minute cameo against Watford at the start of January, but he was recalled by his Premier League parent club as they looked to bring him into their squad.

Swansea must envy Sheffield United's and Nottingham Forest's time with Gibbs-White

While the Swans never truly got to realise Gibbs-White's full potential, he has had more positive experiences elsewhere, with his loan spell at Sheffield United nearly ending in a huge amount of success in 2021/22.

He scored 11 goals and registered nine assists to help the Blades to the play-offs, but they were beaten by Nottingham Forest on penalties in the semi-final as the Reds ultimately were promoted to the top flight.

However, that worked out for the two-time capped England international, as Cooper, who was managing at the City Ground, signed him permanently from Wolves for an initial £25m.

While that fee could rise a further £17.5m, and may have already, Forest have got a lot out of the midfielder, and he has been crucial in their survival in the Premier League in the last two seasons before helping them push for European football in 2024/25.

Swansea must surely be envious that they never got to see just how good Gibbs-White could have been for them over the course of the season, with that foot injury denying him his breakout year earlier than it happened.