Swansea City summer transfers 'positive' - chief executive Julian Winter
- Published
Julian Winter helped bring new manager Russell Martin to Swansea six days before the 2021-22 Championship season kicked off
Chief executive Julian Winter has defended Swansea City's transfer dealings, saying the summer window was "positive" for the Championship club.
Striker Andre Ayew and defender Connor Roberts were high-profile departures while recruits included striker Michael Obafemi and midfielder Olivier Ntcham.
"I think we've had a positive [transfer] window," said Winter.
He also said Swansea's American owners are not content for Swansea to remain in the second tier.
Asked if the owners were looking to sell the club, Winter told BBC Radio Wales Sport: "I've been here 12 months. I have no other instinct other than they're here for the longer term."
In the more immediate future, Winter says boss Russell Martin has more permanent signings and fewer loan players at his disposal than predecessor Steve Cooper, who left after taking Swansea to the play-offs last season.
"We've had bigger transitions in the past here. As a club we were dealt a set of circumstances and we dealt with them," said Winter, who was speaking before Swansea's 0-0 home draw with Hull City on Saturday.
He added: "Now we've gone through the window, I think we feel positively about the squad.
"As I've tried to say ever since I've been here, you've got to try to feel like you've come out of a window stronger than you went in and I think each time we've done that."
Winter was asked if he truly felt Swansea were stronger after losing the likes of Ayew, Marc Guehi, goalkeeper Freddie Woodman, Roberts and Jamal Lowe.
"Yes, suited to where we are now, right - so different head coach, different set of ideas," said Winter.
"Andre is Andre - let's not try to pretend he's not a big miss, but we all know his financial circumstances were challenging for the club for all the time we've been in the Championship.
"But I think we've had a positive window. Some players are inevitably going to leave.
"Players move, we've brought replacements in. We're less reliant on the loan market now - only two loans in the squad at the moment, that's a positive thing.
"But we have our own assets to develop and contribute to the team."
Wales defender Roberts' departure to Burnley left many Swans fans unhappy with the fee of around £2.5m received for the homegrown player.
Winter said Swansea offered Roberts a new deal, but the situation demanded the player's departure.
"We took a view with Connor it was time for him to go," said Winter.
"He'd only got a year left. Was he going to run his contract down? We don't know, but he may have done and he'd have ended up going for nothing.
"So you've got to make a judgement at the end of the day."
Matt Grimes attracted interest from elsewhere, chiefly from Fulham, but the midfielder ended up staying despite the fact that his contract expires next summer.
Winter said talks over Grimes' long-term future are continuing after the club interested in him "didn't reach" Swansea's valuation of the former Exeter youngster.
"We'll talk to Matt on an ongoing basis about his situation," said Winter.
£10m loan from American owners
When asked about Swansea's American owners, Winter pointed to a £10m loan made by Jason Levien and Steve Kaplan along with director Jake Silverstein.
"I've almost been here 12 months to the week that I started and during my time [they] have put in a significant amount of money through a loan note so £10m came in last year," he added.
"There will be a need for funding this year, based on the business we've done and they will support this club.
"You could always say 'is that ambitious enough?'. Well, what is ambitious enough? I'm not really certain what that number would be.
"But the owners are supporting this club financially last year and this so in terms of where I sit, they've stood behind the football club and they want the football club to succeed."
He added: "They're long-term sport investors so they are going to support this club.
"I think the word ambitious - what does it have to look like to look ambitious? If you look at some clubs, the owners spend huge amounts of money to go nowhere.
"I think this football club has a good platform. It's very well run in the sense that we aren't going to lose loads of money like a lot do.
"We're relatively debt-free bar the loan I just talked about and compare that to a myriad of other football clubs in the Championship and the Premier League - the club is in good health.
"They are supportive of this club. We've done the business that we've done in this window to bring players in.
"We've acquired players. We've not relied on the loan market because that's what we feel we need to do."