Swansea City will hope that any new striker signing fares better than 2012/13 flop | OneFootball

Swansea City will be looking to avoid a repeat of Itay Shechter's disappointing loan spell at the club

The 2024/25 season may have only just finished for Swansea City, but the club's recruitment team have already been busy trying to strengthen their squad for the upcoming campaign.

Swedish duo Melker Widell and Zeidane Inoussa have already penned deals to join the Swans, while it's been reported that Kilmarnock striker Bobby Wales is also on his way to SA1.

It's been a busy start to the off-season, and you'd expect more signings through the doors at the Swansea.com Stadium in the coming months as Alan Sheehan looks to strengthen his squad ahead of taking permanent charge.

While 19-year-old striker Wales will bolster Swansea's squad, it wouldn't be a huge surprise to see the club look to sign a more experienced striker too, with uncertainty over Zan Vipotnik's future at the club amid reported interest from clubs on the continent and Saudi Arabia.

Swansea have had their fair share of success stories when it comes to signing strikers in recent years, but they've also had a number who flattered to deceive, perhaps none more so than Itay Shechter, who joined ahead of the 2012/13 campaign.

Swansea City will hope that any new striker signing fares better than Itay Shechter

Despite a successful debut campaign in the Premier League, Swansea took to the transfer market in the summer of 2012 to bolster their squad, and Michael Laudrup added some real firepower to his side's attack with the addition of Michu.

However, the Spaniard wasn't the only forward signed that summer, and Laudrup brought Israeli international striker Shechter to the club on a season-long loan from Bundesliga outfit 1.FC Kaiserslautern.

It's fair to say that Shechter was an unknown quality to English football, having spent his entire career in Israel and Germany prior to the move to Swansea, and it was a move that raised eyebrows given his poor return of just four goals in 26 appearances for 1.FC Kaiserslautern.

It was little surprise that Shechter struggled in SA1, and with Michu and Danny Graham ahead of him in the pecking order, he struggled for minutes as Laudrup's side recorded a top-half finish in the Premier League and lifted the EFL Cup.

The Israel international didn't start a Premier League game until November, and despite Graham's January exit for Sunderland, he continued to struggle for game time, making just seven Premier League starts in total.

In total, Shechter made 19 appearances in all competitions, scoring just one goal - a heavily deflected effort against Wigan - and failed to register an assist.

The goal against the Latics was his first club goal in 18 months across spells with Kaiserslautern and Swansea, and it was little surprise that the Swans made no effort to make his stay in SA1 a permanent one and his forgettable stay in South Wales came to an end in May 2013.

Itay Shechter's move to Swansea City benefited neither party

Shechter returned to Kaiserslautern in the summer of 2013 where he was sold to his former club Hapoel Tel Aviv, and he was quick to hit out at Swansea after a loan spell which clearly benefited nobody.

He told the Jerusalem Post: "I’m really happy to be back home. I experienced a tough season. I didn’t feel part of the team. I had to take a step back to regain confidence and enjoy playing once more."

However, the Israel international returned to a top European league just a couple of months later when he joined French side Nantes, and he remained there for a year before returning to Israel with Maccabi Hafia.

Shechter has remained in Israel ever since, with spells at Beitar Jerusalem, Maccabi Tel Aviv and Hapoel Be'er Sheva before a move to Hapoel Petah Tikvah in the summer of 2023, who he still plays for now at the age of 38.

While he may have had success in Israeli football, Shechter was never good enough for the Premier League, and his move to Swansea proved a strange one for all parties.

If the Swans are looking to bolster their attacking ranks this summer, then they'll hope any new addition fares better than Shechter after his disastrous loan spell.