Swansea City: Paul Clement believes new-look team can thrive

Gylfi Sigurdsson (left) may have departed Swansea City, but fans' favourite Wilfried Bony is back

Swansea City boss Paul Clement admits he has had to change his side's style following the loss of key personnel during the summer.

The Swans lost striker Fernando Llorente and playmaker Gylfi Sigurdsson, who scored more than half of the Welsh club's Premier League goals between them last term.

But with some key acquisitions coming in, Clement remains optimistic.

"I can't lie and say we haven't lost some good players," said Clement.

But as his side prepare to face newly-promoted Newcastle on Sunday, Clement points to his new arrivals as grounds for optimism.

Teenage frontman Tammy Abraham is in on loan from Chelsea and already has two goals in four games for the Swans whilst striker Wilfried Bony has returned from Manchester City and looks set to play a part against Newcastle.

Also likely to feature is young Portuguese midfielder Renato Sanches whose loan move from Clement's former club Bayern Munich is regarded by many as one of the coups of the summer in the English top-flight.

'We can become a better team'

Clement believes despite the players lost, his new-look squad has the potential to do even better, even if a change in the way the Swans play, particularly going forward, is going to be needed.

"Ultimately time is going to tell how we do. I did say we can become a better team and I still believe that. I hope that will be the case," said Clement.

"When I watch them in training and I look down at the squad on paper, and what the bench might look like, I have a lot of optimism.

"It was always going to be an issue with those two players (Llorente and Sigurdsson) going, where are we going to get the goals from?

"But if you look at the stats since I've been here, we were always one of the teams that crossed the ball the most. But if you look at the crosses in the last two games, we are the lowest.

"So, straight away there is a style change. If you have Llorente in the team, then you cross the ball. If you don't have him then you don't cross the ball so much and you have to work it in other ways."

All eyes will be on 20-year-old Sanches, who was targeted by plenty of clubs before opting for the Swans following the part he played in Portugal's Euro 2016 triumph.

Renato Sanches managed just six Bundesliga starts for Bayern Munich last season

Clement believes Sanches arrives with plenty to prove in the top flight.

"The fact that I have already worked hard to get him here means he can come here with confidence," said Clement.

'It's not an ideal situation'

The Swansea boss believes Sanches is also motivated to earn a Portugal recall.

"He's lost his place and he's already played in a Euro Final. So that must hurt, that he's now playing (internationals) under-21 football.

"It's World Cup year in 2018 so it must be a massive motivation for him."

But Clement admits that having two of his key men this term, Abraham and Sanches, only at Swansea on loan for the season is not the situation he would really like.

He added: "For me it's not an ideal situation. I would far rather those two players had signed permanent long term deals with us.

"But I don't think it would have been realistic."