Swansea City’s impending sale of Gylfi Sigurdsson to Everton for £45m is a disaster for Paul Clement, according to pundit Ian Wright.
Sigurdsson is expected to undergo a medical in Liverpool on Wednesday after the two clubs finally hammered out a deal, understood to be some way below the Swans’ initial demand for £50m, even with add-on payments.
Swans manager Clement is now expected to finalise deals to bring in former striker Wilfried Bony from Manchester City and West Brom’s Nacer Chadli, although moves for Joe Allen from Stoke City are likely to remain rebuffed.
But former England striker Wright still believes the net impact of losing Sigurdsson will be a major blow to Swansea’s Premier League campaign.
“It’s disastrous for Swansea,” said Wright.
“This deal has been rumbling on for months and Paul Clement must have been fretting about this day for a long time simply because he knows it’s going to happen at some stage, and now it has happened he knows it’s left a massive void in the Swansea squad.”
Speaking on Sky Sports, Wright added: “Outside of the Premier League’s top five teams, Gylfi Sigurdsson is easily the best player. His numbers prove that.
“However, Everton are getting one of the top players. It’s a fantastic signing for the club, but obviously disastrous for Swansea.”
Sigurdsson’s importance to Swansea was underlined by the fact he scored nine league goals and had 13 assists as the club just avoided relegation from the Premier League last season.
Only two other players, Manchester City’s Kevin de Bruyne and Tottenham’s Christian Eriksen, brought more goals and assists to their teams and Everton quickly targeted Sigurdsson as a key signing during a transfer window in which they have spent heavily.
Everton’s majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri has spent close to £100m so far in recruiting former favourite Wayne Rooney, Jordan Pickford, Davy Klaassen, Michael Keane, Cuco Martina and Sandro Ramirez.
But that figure will now significantly rise with the capture of Sigurdsson, who can fill a variety of forward positions.
Swansea hope to use the Sigurdsson cash by strengthening their squad with two or three players before the window closes.
Sigurdsson pulled out of Swansea’s pre-season tour to the United States after Everton’s interest had become clear.
He rejoined first-team training upon Swansea’s return from the States but he did not figure in their Premier League opener at Southampton on Saturday.
Swansea rejected two Everton bids for Sigurdsson, but Toffees boss Ronald Koeman said last weekend that the deal was “still close” after reports that talks between the two clubs had broken down.
Clement was just as keen to close the deal to allow him time to find replacements before the transfer window closes at the end of August.
“The objective and the aim is that at some point the two clubs will meet,” Clement said ahead of the goalless draw at Southampton.
“I think the way it’s going there needs to be more than likely a compromise on both sides. That is very often how a deal is made.
“We are at a critical stage of this situation and hope it’s going to be resolved very quickly.”