Swansea manager Garry Monk continued to strengthen his first-team squad last Thursday with the acquisition of defender Kyle Naughton from Tottenham on a three-and-a-half-year deal for a fee believed to be in the region of £5m. The 26-year-old is the third new face to arrive at the Liberty during the winter transfer window, following forward Nelson Oliveira and young playmaker Matt Grimes to the club.
Discussing his move with the local press, Naughton cited a lack of guaranteed pitch time as the main reason behind his decision to depart White Hart Lane, with the versatile full-back now looking to cement his place in Swansea’s first-team:
“My main aim is to start playing regular football again. I know it’s going to be a tough challenge because there are some very good players here, but that’s my goal. I actually played 34 games last season for Spurs, which is a fair amount. The main problem for me, however, was that I was still in and out of the team. That’s difficult at times. But now I just want to settle into life at Swansea and try to play regularly. It all comes down to playing football — after all, that’s my job.”
The History
A product of the Sheffield United youth academy, Naughton’s career kicked off on loan at Scottish side Gretna in January 2008, where he made 18 appearances before returning to his parent club. The full-back made his debut for the Blades the following season and was quick to catch the eye. After producing three goals and a trio of assists in 50 matches, he was named in the Championship Team of the Year and was snapped up by Spurs in a £9m deal along with fellow defender Kyle Walker.
Over his six years at White Hart Lane, it’s fair to saw that Naughton failed to convince under a series of managers. Loan spells at Middlesbrough (15 appearances), Leicester (34 appearances, five goals, three assists) and Norwich (32 appearances) ensued, with Naughton mustering just six assists in 75 outings for the north London club. With Walker sidelined for the first few months of the season, Naughton was still unable to nail down a starting role under new boss Mauricio Pochettino and turned out just five times in the league. On the international stage, the 26-year-old turned out nine times for the England Under 21 side between 2008-10.
The Prospects
With cash to splash as a result of Wilfried Bony’s move to City, Monk has been quick to target the full-back areas. Naughton’s arrival comes at a time where the Welsh club have also been linked with Norwich’s Martin Olsson, as Crystal Palace attempt to wrestle current left-back Neil Taylor from the Liberty.
After confirming the deal, the Swans boss was quick to lay down the challenge to his new defender and suggested Naughton has the opportunity to improve his patchy pitch time:
“I know he enjoyed his time at Tottenham, but he didn’t play quite as regularly as he would have wanted. Hopefully he can now stake a claim for a place in our starting XI. He adds quality to what we already have. I think he can help us improve as a team and he can improve as a player as well. I always want to recruit young, hungry players with a point to prove and Kyle is one of them. He comes here with good pedigree and he is experienced at the top level. I think the fact that we have got him is another sign of how far we have come.”
So far, Monk has mainly fielded Angel Rangel at right-back in his first full season at the helm. The Spaniard has started 17 of the opening 22 Gameweeks but a closer look at recent team sheets suggest he may be falling out of favour – he’s been named in the first XI in only three of the last six, with Monk turning to both Ashley Richards and Dwight Tiendalli as alternatives.
With his manager seemingly unconvinced over the other three right-backs (Richards has now been farmed out on loan to Fulham), Naughton certainly has the chance to become a regular in the Swansea starting line-up. Available for just 4.3 in the Fantasy Premier League (FPL) game, he would offer the cheapest route into a defence that’s served up eight clean sheets over the campaign. Only Chelsea and Southampton have managed to keep out their opponents more often than Swansea so far, though it’s worth noting that all of their shut-outs have arrived against sides that currently sit in the bottom half of the table.
As speculation grows over Taylor’s future, Ashley Williams – at 5.3 – remains the most popular option, but with Wildcards in play, Naughton could come into contention as a viable cut-price option ahead of showdowns with Sunderland, West Brom and Burnley in the next five. Looking at our season fixture ticker, pairing him with Sunderland’s 4.2-priced Patrick van Aanholt and alternating according to ease of fixture over the next 11 Gameweeks (BUR, SUN, QPR, WBA, bur, hul, AVL, avl, HUL, CPL, lei) looks very favourable, whilst a home/away rotation with Stoke’s Philipp Wollscheid (4.5) could also hold appeal in light of the Potters’ three clean sheets in the last five.
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