Swansea fan tells NUFC supporters what to expect from Federico Fernandez

Swansea fan tells NUFC supporters what to expect from Federico Fernandez - Very interesting

by Olly Hawkins · 9 August 2018, 21:05

It's not been the best of deadline days, but one small positive was the signing of Swansea's Federico Fernandez - with the Argentine international arriving for £6m and signing an initial two year deal with the club.

As a result, we've reached out to Swansea City fan Gareth Thomas, conducting a short Q&A with him to get the low down on Fernandez - a defender we can expect to see a lot of this season following the long-term injury suffered by Florian Lejeune.

Here's what he had to say in response to our questions about the 6ft 2' centre-back:

Q1) Getting straight to it, what do you make of Fernandez as a player? Will he be a good signing for Rafa Benitez?

"I really rate Fernandez as a player.

"He came to us with a good reputation from Napoli and on the back of international appearances for Argentina and I was instantly impressed with him. He linked up really well with Ashley Williams and is a classy defender.

"He has had some difficult moments in a Swans shirt, in particular under Bob Bradley (most did to be fair!) where he lacked concentration at times, which led to us conceding really soft, avoidable goals.

"His passing is generally very good, but can be risky at times.

"Overall, you will like him as a player and last season in particular, he was definitely our best defender and with Fabianski and Mawson, he was one of our best players."

Q2) What are his strengths and weaknesses as a player?

"Strengths- He is not afraid to compete with other tall, physical players and often wins the ball in the air. He is also good with the ball at his feet and is not afraid to run out with the ball or pass the ball forward into midfield to start off attacks.

"Weaknesses- He doesn’t offer enough of a threat from corners and set pieces. He often gets in good positions to score, but has a bit of a 50p head. He’s also quite slow so can have a hard time against players who are a lot faster than him.

Q3) What sort of character is he? Our team lacks quality so relies on players digging in, showing real spirit and following Rafa's instructions to the inch at all times.

"He was given the captaincy last season, so managers have clearly seen leadership qualities in him.

"He does communicate well on the pitch with others, but is generally quite shy and quiet.

"He has proven that he can adapt to different systems, so is very good at responding to different tactics and instructions."

Q4) He'll most likely play as left sided centre-back alongside Jamaal Lascelles, with the ball playing Florian Lejeune out for the season with a ACL. Do you think he'll fit in well if this is to be the case?

"He has always played on the right in recent seasons, but he did play on the left last Saturday against Sheffield United and he was no different so he can clearly adapt easily.

"As I said, he is generally good on the ball, even though he is prone to odd error.

"I really rate Lascelles and I think they will be a great partnership on the field."

Q5) Finally, I see you wanted £10m - yet we got him for £6m. Do you feel this is a bargain for him? I was VERY surprised to see you let him go so late in the day..Why was this?

"Most Swans fans knew we would settle for less because we always do. We are useless at negotiating deals, something we were always good at up until 3 years ago.

"£6m is an absolute bargain. He’s easily worth £10m, maybe a bit more if we were still in the Premier League.

"We always had a feeling he would go up until he started last weekend and then we had renewed optimism.

"The fact we haven’t replaced him is going to hurt us, especially since we are only left with one senior centre back now.

"We shouldn’t have sold him this late in the window without a replacement, simple as that, but we have and now we’ve got to suffer from that."

An interesting chat and a player he clearly rated very highly, having him down as one of their best players last season despite relegation.