Michael Laudrup plans to keep Jonathan de Guzman at Swansea City
MICHAEL Laudrup will make signing Jonathan de Guzman on a permanent basis a top priority for Swansea City — but not before the summer.
Laudrup has been delighted with de Guzman's contribution since the Dutchman arrived on a season-long loan from Villarreal back in July.
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Jonathan de Guzman
But Swansea will not attempt to secure his services on a full-time deal during the January transfer window.
Instead they will go to work on what is likely to be a multi-million pound transfer at the end of this campaign.
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Swansea signed de Guzman on loan with a view to a permanent transfer, but Laudrup has indicated there is no firm agreement in place.
And that means much will depend on the thoughts of Villarreal, who paid more than 8 million euros for de Guzman in the summer of 2011.
Relegated from the Spanish top flight last term, Villarreal are currently in mid-table in the second tier but could still launch a promotion push in the second half of the season.
"Of course Jonathan is a player I would like to stay and I hope we can work a deal out with Villarreal — it would be great," Laudrup said.
"He is on loan until the end of the season, and then what happens happens.
"I think Jonathan is very happy here but again, there are more interests and it is not enough that I want him, that Swansea want him and what Jonathan wants.
"It depends a lot on what Villarreal want, but we are going to try what we can and we will see if it's enough."
Former Dutch Under-21 international de Guzman enjoyed arguably his best day since arriving at Swansea when he netted twice in last weekend's comprehensive win over Stoke.
And his bright display was well-timed given that Danny Blind, the assistant manager of Holland's national team, was in the crowd at the Liberty.
It would not be a big surprise if de Guzman joined Michel Vorm in the next senior Dutch squad.
The Stoke double means de Guzman now has six goals for the season, the same tally he managed in the season spent playing under Laudrup at Real Mallorca.
The 25-year-old's best ever goal tally for one campaign is the 11 he chalked up for Feyenoord in 2007-08.
And the way he is going right now, it is not inconceivable that de Guzman will match that haul in his maiden Premier League season.
"Jonathan is not a second striker, his best position is as the most dynamic midfielder," Laudrup added.
"But when we play with three midfielders, he can still go forward.
"He covers a lot of space and when he starts to run with the ball he keeps the pace, which is very difficult.
"He scores goals as well. I don't know what he averages in his career — I don't think it's many — but he's already scored a few and has assists. He has been important for us.
"I am happy for him, especially that he scored a free-kick (against Stoke) because I have seen him do that a lot in training."
3 Comments
by CroJack
Tuesday, January 22 2013, 5:23PM
“He is 25, free kick specialist, goal scoring midfielder, fast, hard working, nice person. You just have to see the goals he scored earlier in his career to understand how dangerous he is in front of the goal. He can easily score 10 - 15 goals in Premier League per season, a goal score unachievable for some highly rated strikers. We have one of the most dangerous midfield duo in Premier League, Michu and Jono. I think they are going to score at least 30 goals together in this season.”
by naterab
Tuesday, January 22 2013, 3:51PM
“I really hope that Swansea can secure JDG in the summer. JDG has said that he wants to stay here for the foreseeable future and Laudrup has said he wants to keep De Guzman here. The only question now is Villarreal. I think it will happen. I hope so anyways, as De Guzman has been brilliant for the Swans.”
by phildavies14
Tuesday, January 22 2013, 2:06PM
“If we consider that Michu has been moved further forward for a lot of the season, it has to be said that De guzman has been our best midfielder this season, and our most important. He is integral to everything good we do. If it is, as suggested, that Villareal want 8million euro, then we should get the cheque book out now ! That is peanuts for a Premier league midfielder. We paid not much less for Ki and Liverpool gave us almost 3 times that for Joe Allen. As much as I liked Joe, he would never have scored either goal that JDG scored on Saturday.
ML obviously rates him highly as he plays him virtually all the time. So HJ, this is one we cant let get away. We cant continue to get Michu's and Flores' for peanuts. I was listening to 5 live for the FA Cup replay and quite rightly, both commentator and pundit said JDG was as good as a central midfielder that they had seen in the PL this year.”