Luke Williams: Swansea City in 'frenzy' to strengthen in January window
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Luke Williams has signed a three-and-a-half-year deal at Swansea
Head coach Luke Williams says there is a "frenzy" going on behind the scenes at Swansea City as the club bid to strengthen their squad during the January transfer window.
Williams takes charge of his first Swansea league game at Birmingham City on Saturday.
While his immediate focus is Birmingham, Williams says there is "a lot of work" going into transfer plans.
"I love it - this type of frenzy to make us better," he said.
"People are working so hard. We are getting lots of information on lots of different players.
"Imagine we are trying to furiously put a jigsaw puzzle together, with so many people picking up different pieces at the same time.
"The thing I see is a frenzy of activity, so many people wanting to make a big contribution, so I am really excited about that.
"I am really pleased we have that much expertise and that much energy to try to strengthen us."
Swansea signed 13 players last summer - and brought in free-agent winger Yannick Bolasie on a short-term deal in November - but are keen to make further additions having struggled so far this season.
Williams was appointed a week ago, just over a month after Michael Duff was sacked with the club 18th in the Championship.
He refused to say how many players he wants to sign during the January window, but Swansea are thought to be primarily interested in players with pace and energy.
Williams says sporting director Paul Watson and chairman Andy Coleman are heavily involved in the transfer search.
"What I can tell you is that the information being given to me is really incredible - the statistical data and the people who have travelled to watch players and given reports, people who have experience and know what they are talking about," Williams added.
"Paul is incredible. He seems to be able to have so many different things going on and he is so enthusiastic to try to get things done to make us stronger.
"Andy is wanting to know [my thoughts] every time I look at a report. I get a message afterwards saying 'what was the report like?'.
"Andy is like, 'you tell me what we are doing'. And you know what Andy is like, he is going to drive there, pick the player up and bring him back himself. He will turn up in his pyjamas.
"That's all you can ask as coaches, that we are supported and people are going to give us the chance to be successful."
Swansea will again be without Liam Walsh and Josh Key at Birmingham, while Azeem Abdulai is out for "a few weeks" after aggravating a hamstring problem on his return to action against Morecambe last Saturday.
Harrison Ashby is also doubtful despite returning to training after his hamstring injury.
The Swans will be backed by a sold-out away end at St Andrew's - and Williams says there is an onus on his team to deliver for their travelling fans.
"Normally when you first arrive at Swansea you think Cardiff is just down the road, then you realise it's an hour and everywhere is quite far away," he said.
"I think that's what makes this place beautiful - that it is very nearly an island. I know how difficult is to travel.
"It's unlikely that we can produce an unbelievable performance, the best one the fans have ever seen, but I think they want to see a spark that hopefully is going to be a fire.
"I am really going to make sure that we all understand the sacrifice to travel is huge and we need to give the fans at least some moments of excitement that they can travel back and talk about."