QPR transfer news could haunt Swansea City on Middlesbrough evidence - action is needed | OneFootball

Swansea look set to miss out on Richard Kone, a huge blow given their striker woes

Swansea City opened their 2025/26 Championship campaign with a 1-0 defeat away to Middlesbrough on Saturday in a game that won't live long in the memory of either set of supporters.

Chances were at a premium at the Riverside Stadium, but Dael Fry's header from a corner was enough to earn Rob Edwards' side all three points and send Swansea back to South Wales empty-handed.

To say Alan Sheehan's side looked toothless in attack at Boro would be an understatement, managing three shots, just one of them on target and proving that further signings are needed despite an impressive start to the transfer window.

Adding a new striker to his squad would have been a priority for Sheehan all summer, but after Saturday's showing at the Riverside, the need to add a goalscorer to his squad would have only been intensified.

Swansea City may be haunted by QPR, Richard Kone decision

Kone image credit - Benji Walker (@benjiwalkerphoto)

Swansea have been linked with a host of strikers this summer, but it seemed like they were going to finally get their man when they tabled a £4.5milion bid for Wycombe striker Richard Kone. However, it emerged just days later that Kone was 'unlikely' to join the club, and that ship has sailed.

Kone has joined Championship rivals QPR, meaning Swansea have to go back to the drawing board to try and find a striker in the remaining weeks of the transfer window; quite where they can find an 18-goal League One player of the year alternative remains to be seen.

While the Ivorian had a quiet end to the 2024/25 campaign by his high standards, his impressive form during the first half of the campaign meant it would have been a real coup for any Championship side to land his signature, and Swansea know all too well what he's capable of.

The Swans fell to a disappointing 1-0 loss to Wycombe in last season's Carabao Cup with Kone impressive throughout for the Chairboys, scoring the only goal of the game, and you feel as if he would have offered Sheehan's side a real focal point up front, something they're badly missing.

Liam Cullen started Swansea's opening league game at Boro and had the least touches of any outfield player to play the full 90 minutes (27), and had a Fotmob rating of 5.8, the lowest of any player involved, showing that the Swans lack someone with Kone's presence and ability to grab the game by the scruff of the neck.

Kone isn't the only striker Swansea have missed out on this summer, with Oli McBurnie opting for a move to Hull City over a return to SA1, and with the Championship season now underway, the Swans can't afford to waste any more time and need a new man up front urgently.

With Jerry Yates and Mykola Kukharevych allowed to leave the club earlier this summer, supporters expected a new striker to have arrived by now, but it appears that any deal for a striker won't be imminent, and they'll have to wait.

Given their desperate need for a striker, Swansea will be kicking themselves if Kone impresses at Loftus Road, and missing out on the Ivorian could well come back to haunt them this season.

Despite finishing 11th and well clear of the relegation zone last season, Swansea struggled for goals, finding the back of the net just 51 times in their 46 Championship games, and it's a problem which has yet to be addressed this summer.

Cullen has proven himself to be someone capable of scoring at Championship level, but it's common knowledge that he's better suited to playing deeper as opposed to as a lone striker, and Zan Vipotnik is yet to take the division by storm following his move from Bordeaux last summer.

Slovenian international Vipotnik scored seven goals in 44 appearances for the Swans last season, but the Slovenian is yet to adapt to the English game and often drifts in and out of games while lacking the athleticism that many top Championship strikers possess.

Summer signing Bobby Wales impressed off the bench in Swansea's Carabao Cup win over Crawley Town and found the back of the net, but it's clear that the 20-year-old is seen as a player for the future, not someone who will start regularly in the Championship at this stage.

It leaves Swansea in a difficult position as none of their strikers are quite good enough to start for a Championship side with ambitions of building on last season's 11th-place finish, and an upgrade will be needed in the coming weeks.