Swansea City make progress in free agent hunt as Luke Williams identifies key challenge
The Swans returned to winning ways with a hard-fought victory at Bristol City
Luke Williams says Swansea City have identified several potential free agents following the close of the January transfer window - but warns his side are in the middle of a transition following the departure of Matt Grimes.
A spirited performance helped the Swans grind out a 1-0 win over Bristol City at Ashton Gate, courtesy of Josh Tymon's first ever goal for the club, with the victory ending a rotten start to 2025 that had previously yielded just one point from Swansea's last six games.
After starting with what was a well publicised and shambolic end to the transfer window, this was a hugely welcome and positive end to the week for the Swans, although Williams hasn't ruled out the possibility of making further additions, having previously confirmed the club are scouring the free agent market for possible additions. Sign up to our Swansea City newsletter here.
"There's no update on that at the moment," he told WalesOnline after the win at Ashton Gate. "But we have identified some players that could potentially be of interest to us.
"They're not far enough for me to give you anything juicy, I'm afraid."
Swansea had to ride their luck at times at Ashton Gate, particularly in a first half that the hosts completely dominated. Indeed, were it not for the stunning contributions of Lawrence Vigouroux, there's every chance the Swans might have been out of the game come half-time.
Williams, however, insists he was pleased by the way his side dug in, and says they are still adjusting to a new way of playing following the departure of Grimes in the window.
"I think we're probably in a bit of a transition," he added. "If you lose a player of the quality and consistency of Matt Grimes, and at the same time we've had Harry (Darling) out now. That was his last game of his suspension.
"So the formation is still quite new to us and the personnel is a little bit different. So in that scenario, I think the most important thing is that you compete for every ball and you put your body on the line to defend every goal.
"They certainly did that, but then I think the credit to them for being so brave in a game where they're under so much pressure defensively. They were brave enough to try and build some moves and in the end to create some good chances."
While they did create a couple of good opportunities, Swansea were arguably second best before a marked second-half improvement. But Williams insists he was happy with the way his team conducted themselves during a testing opening 45 minutes.
"I think that's unfair," he continued when quizzed on whether he might have perhaps wanted more from his side in the first half.
"What I wanted them to do was to defend our box in a really impressive way that shows everyone they're determined to do everything they can to keep the ball out the back of the net.
"We knew the opposition are in a good place. They're in good form. They're at home. If we came to try and play a more open game and didn't have that mentality to really be resilient in front of our own goal, I think the game could have been very different for us.
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"I was happy they were well prepared and that we understood what was coming and they strong enough and resilient enough to stand up to that. Even at half-time we had two very clear cut chances in a game where we've been under huge pressure.
"So it was an incredibly tough game. No doubt about it, but I think that's the bare minimum requirement is that level of competitiveness.
"The fans have been through a lot. It's their club and I think the bare minimum for us is to enjoy this moment after a bad run of form and some other things that have affected feelings around the club. So we have to share the moment with them because they're the most important people, without question."