Swansea 'must do better' on transfers - Williams

Luke Williams says Swansea City must "stop making the fans unhappy" after another botched transfer window which looks set to trigger a fresh overhaul of the club's recruitment set-up.

Swansea saw a number of deals slip through their fingers before Monday's transfer deadline to bring a painful end to what proved a demoralising window.

Swansea's transfer business has been widely criticised, which has been a recurring theme at the Championship club in recent years.

Williams believes the Swans paid the price for a lack of preparation and a shortage of experience – and says chairman Andy Coleman has been let down by some of the staff he has appointed since taking the reins in 2023.

"What I feel is that there's a lot of things we need to better," Swansea's head coach said.

"I think the disappointment will manifest in action – we can't do that again.

"I certainly think that we need a restructure."

Williams says "some great news" is in the pipeline, with Swansea close to unveiling a new director of football who is expected to play a major role in recruitment.

An appointment has been made, but the new man is serving a notice period at his current club.

Williams believes that will be a positive step after a window in which an already thin squad got even smaller.

Swansea brought in Hannes Delcroix and Lewis O'Brien on loan – as well as completing a deal for Melker Widell, who will arrive in the summer – but sold club captain Matt Grimes and fellow midfielder Azeem Abdulai, while goalkeeper Andy Fisher left on loan and defender Nelson Abbey was recalled by Olympiakos.

Swansea missed out a string of targets including Wycombe centre-back Josh Low, Manchester City midfielder Jacob Wright and Red Bull Salzburg's Bobby Clark.

They also failed with a number of late bids for players as the deadline approached.

This time last year, Coleman was left defending Swansea's transfer business, while they had mixed success in last summer's window.

In 2023, then boss Russell Martin said the club needed to change its approach to the transfer market after they failed to sign a player in the mid-season window.

The following summer - with Paul Watson in place as sporting director having been appointed by Coleman - Swansea made 13 signings, but few proved successful.

Coleman has already overseen one rebuild of Swansea's recruitment set-up, but the club are now planning further changes.

When asked about Coleman's reaction to this window, Williams said: "I think the chairman was a bit shocked that things weren't prepared and organised to the level that he expected them to be.

"He said to me he feels a sense of responsibility. That's what a leader does - he's trying to take responsibility.

"But really a lot of people have been given a big opportunity since he has been here making appointments. And I don't think a lot of people have taken that opportunity.

"I think he's probably quite wounded because a lot of trust was placed in people and they have maybe not fulfilled that obligation."

Williams said Swansea must learn that "in football, deals are never done until they're actually done".

He added that there can be a lot of "misleading conversations" over potential transfers.

"Agents will do a great job of protecting their client and making sure they have options and sometimes the information you have to take with a pinch of salt," Williams said.

"You have to make sure you get close to getting that deal done before the window opens, then be really strong once it opens. Maybe [there was] a lack of experience in some departments to make sure those things were done.

"Therefore we were duped too many times. That's something that needs to improve.

"Sometimes people need to see things themselves to believe them and to suffer, and I think a lot of people are suffering now in the club."

While Williams was keen to stress that defender Lacroix and midfielders O'Brien and Widell are positive signings, he lamented the fact that Swansea missed out on other players they felt were "very close" to joining.

One of those was Wright, who was at Swansea's training ground last Sunday but signed for Norwich City on Monday.

"Just to put it out there, he is a really good guy with a lovely family," Williams said.

"It's tough for young players - they have got to try to make a decision. That's maybe something we could have had lined up long before and been able to get done before others came in to try to ruin the party.

"He's a really good player - it was a good idea to bring in this player. We just needed to get that done as a matter of urgency."

Williams described ex-Liverpool youngster Clark as a "very talented player" who was another "good spot" on the club's part, but that Swansea ended up missing out because a deal was not concluded earlier.

RB Salzburg were initially willing to let Clark join Swansea on a temporary basis, but ultimately the only option was a permanent transfer because the Austrian club had already sent the maximum number of players out on loan.

Swansea were also interested in buying Clark but the asking price for a player who left Liverpool for £10m was too high.

Having missed out on various targets, Williams says Swansea are once again assessing free agent players who could sign even though the window is closed.

It could be that potential recruits come in to train with Swansea after Sunday's Championship game at Bristol City, where Williams' team will hope to end a six-game league winless run.

By the summer, Williams hopes, the club's latest change in recruitment policy will mean a smoother transfer window.

"We have to get it right," he said.

"We know the constraints, but the fans want to see that we are trying to do things in a joined up way, with smart signings, good business, key players being retained for a bit longer.

"That way we have trust and respect from the fanbase and they say 'yeah, we know they are trying to do things in the correct way'."