This Is Our Time ~ Swansea City (FIFA 16 Dynasty)

[Number999]

Leicester City tease Swansea once again, win away 1-0

Game Recap: Gah... that is just so frustrating. Why does this always seem to happen?

Felix Ooovaro has been able to beat all of the major Big 6 clubs in the Barclays Premier League as you saw. Yet somehow,he has been able to defeat Leicester City. This time, after thrashing Arsenal at Emirates Stadium and then playing at home against Manchester United and getting a 90th minute game-winning goal... of course despite all of those spectacular victories, you can't beat bleeping Leicester City. A club that was 15th going into today. It's just such a shame considering that the other big clubs don't have these sorts of performances. They get it done against the minor and inferior clubs, while Swansea still have that stain on them that'll hold them back.

Last 4 Matches vs Leicester City under Ooovaro:
(15/16) Game #20 of BPL vs Leicester City (L 0 - 3)
(15/16) Game #35 of BPL @ Leicester City (D 1 - 1)
(16/17) Game #3 of BPL @ Leicester City (D 0 - 0)
(16/17) Game #20 of BPL vs Leicester City (L 0 - 1)

As you can see, infuriating to say the least. Two losses and two draws? If you had that sort of performance against Arsenal or Chelsea it would be understandable, but instead you play like that against Leicester City? Just straight up garbage. It's even worse considering that both of the losses came at home in Liberty Stadium. It's just so bizarre that Leicester, of all the teams in the Barclays Premier League and the football world in general are the team that give Swansea City so much trouble is very strange.

Now, to be fair to Felix Ooovaro, he had to play plenty of reserves due to the fact many of his players were dead tired after having played two matches in three days against such huge clubs. Ooovaro still felt confident in his side though, Yvon Mvogo, Angelino, Sven van Beek, Franck Tabanou, Angel Rangel, Jack Cork, Bryan Cristante, Edimilson Fernandes, Nathan Dyer, Moses Simon, and Leroy Sane. While certainly not incredibly strong, you figured that Sane would do good enough to get one goal and then Swansea could pull back and just come away with a very scrappy 1 goal victory or so.

Instead, that goal never came. Even though Leroy Sane had a chance in the 8th minute and just missed the net hitting the side netting. The worst missed chance of all was in the 73rd minute when it was still tied. Nathan Dyer made a brilliant run into the box and went to finesse it right around Ben Hamer and he just made this huge extended save to get the ball out of Leicester's net. Ooovaro started pressing his players forward and brought on a few subs in BDK and Goretzka since he really did want this victory, and then somehow finally, after using this tactic so often, he finally got punished for pressing.

With Swansea City's defense at the halfway line, Jamie Vardy was matched up against Angelino on a run down the wing. It looked like when Vardy kicked it forward closing in on the box, Angelino had pulled away and he was just gonna pass the ball away to clear it. Instead, he just got pulled back by Vardy, fell far behind them, Vardy scooped up the ball and in one swift motion whipped the ball into the center before Angelino could block it. Sven van Beek tried to stop it before it got to Dodoo, and then Jack Cork had the responsibility of clearing the header. Both failed, and Joe Dodoo smashed the ball into the back of the net with a header that Yvon Mvogo simply couldn't handle. In the 76th minute, Leicester City had now pulled ahead and there was panicking happening.

Swansea City had a fantastic chance in the 83rd minute and he fell short against Ben Hamer once again, making all the more sense as to why he was given man of the match. Nathan Dyer got ripped down on 2 probable penalties and neither were called. So much for home field advantage. Swansea were pissed and you could see it in Ooovaro's face after the match. Even with a weaker side being played, you can't be losing these sorts of matches when you're in direct competition with Chelsea and Manchester United. At least the January Transfer Window has finally opened up and we can move on.

Stats from Swansea City 0 - Leicester City 1

Spoiler

Other Pictures from Swansea City 0 - Leicester City 1

Spoiler

Just one example of Dyer being taken out


Second example of a probable penalty with Dyer

[Number999]

Swansea get revenge on Man City, how sweet it is 3-1

Game Recap: How you like us now Manchester City!?!?!?

After falling short against Leicester City, Felix Ooovaro knew he had to settle his troops down and re-focus. Going into a FA Cup match against Rochdale, he rested a few of his starters since they were due to play Manchester City just a couple days later. Angel Correa was the main man responsible for scoring goals, and he managed to strike twice as well as Edimilson Fernandes scoring a 3rd to complete a 3-0 victory over the FA Cup in Round #5. With the January Transfer Window now open, Swansea's name was thrown around in a variety of potential transfers and we'll see how that fairs moving forward, but Ooovaro knew he had gotten his boys back on track.

The first goal that Swansea City sorta came out of nowhere. Breel Embolo was just dribbling on the edge of the box with no Manchester City defender coming after him. Finally Bacary Sagna went to stop him right on the edge at the center but he missed, and Embolo maneuvered right around him. He then was able to get into the box from the top wing and then shoot near-post against Joe Hart, slamming the goal right past Joe Hart. It was a goal that nobody saw coming, and as Embolo only continued his dominant goal-scoring in the Barclays Premier League, Swansea City now held a huge lead at home over City in the 27th minute, 1-0.

The remainder of the 1st half saw limited chances for each side. Going into the halftime break, Ooovaro was happy with how his lads were producing. They had scored, Andre Ayew was doing solid despite having played a couple of days ago, and there were no major real complaints. Of course, to kick-off the 2nd half things didn't go quite smoothly. In just the 48th minute, Fernandinho passed a ball down the wing to Bacary Sagna. He had Jonjo Shelvey and Ashley Williams surrounding him preventing him from going forward, and yet somehow he saw a run into the box and whipped in one hell of a cross to Karim Benzema. You can blame Kaan Ayhan for not marking Benzema or Mvogo for not coming forward to stop the shot and either hold onto it or punt it away, but Benzema just blasted it right into Swansea's goal to quickly tie up the match in the 2nd half and have it even up at 1-1.

Swansea City were a bit frustrated after that. It was really a lucky series of events that allowed the chance to be created and now Manchester City and their over-whelming talent could potentially take-over. All of the players who were here last season remember that heart-breaking game in the finale against Manchester City where they let them get 2 goals in the dying minutes of the match to gift away 2nd place in the BPL. Now Manchester City have been awful this season while Swansea were able to continue their success, yet now they were going to spoil their season once again? Not on their watch.

In the 56th minute, a controversial penalty was called on Nicolas Otamendi. The call is still being disputed, but essentially, Gylfi Sigurdsson scooped up the ball in Man City territory after an errant pass. He took a shot on goal and it was blocked by Otamendi, after running towards it, it seems like Otamendi was diving to kick the ball out but instead tripped up Sigurdsson sending him to the ground. Is it a penalty or no? Regardless, the referees called it and Breel Embolo stepped up to the plate. He went to the top left corner and Joe Hart though he dove to the correct side, dove too low to make the save. Swansea City once again held a crucial 1-goal lead and we're now ahead at Liberty 2-1. You could just see the utter glee in the numerous Swansea fans.

Manchester City did their best to apply the same pressure they did last season in Game #38, but they couldn't replicate it. In the 85th minute after a corner for Manchester City, Swansea were able to break out and more specifically Angel Correa was running with the ball down the bottom wing. Bacary Sagna slid in to try to stop him but he missed him entirely, leaving a wide open lane for Correa to get into the box. He ran in, and with Man City defenders pre-ocuppied of guarding the ground pass to Embolo to set up the easy goal, they allowed Correa to walk right in. He finessed it and Joe Hart got one arm on it, but the ball kept trickling towards goal. Eventually it went in and it was officially over, Swansea City had sealed the deal with a 3-1 victory.

This victory is so damn sweet for such a multitude of reasons. The fact it comes against Manchester City after what they did to us last season is really sweet. The fact that Man City are now still in danger of being in the bottom 5 of the league is also fantastic. Getting a victory like this after losing to Leicester City is also tremendous. The transfer rumors are going to continue swirling but let's just drink this one on in. Swansea City are most definitely a legit BPL contender and they'll be chasing down Chelsea and Manchester United to the very bitter end of this campaign.

Stats from Swansea City 3 - Manchester City 1

Spoiler

Other Pictures from Swansea City 3 - Manchester City 1

Spoiler

BDK getting up in yo' TV screen


Breel Embolo's goal in the 27th minute, up 1-0


Sagna's cross that set up Benzema's goal, 1-1


Controversial penalty call on Otamendi, 2-1


Correa's goal that put the game to bed, 3-1

[Number999]

Ooovaro reportedly "infatuated" with Ricardo Rodriguez

Let the transfer rumors and ideas swirl round and round!

Swansea City have had no problem as of late with having their transfer dirty laundry aired. As of right now, the biggest supposed theme is that Felix Ooovaro wants to make a monster splash this transfer window. The reason? As of right now, it's believed that Swansea have around $23,000,000 to spend along with $200,000 or so in wages to dish out. That's a hefty amount of money to still have in the January window but, Swansea as of right now doesn't have an over-whelming amount of needs in all honesty. They got rewarded around $13,000,000 for having won their Champions League group and it has opened up the opportunity for them to go after different players.

For their squad, what exactly is there to improve upon? For a regular rotation of the starting 11, it's set in stone. Andre Ayew, Breel Embolo, and Balde Diao Keita are the main 3 attackers. They can be rotated with Angel Correa, Nathan Dyer, and Anthony Maitland-Niles. Gylfi Sigurdsson, Jonjo Shelvey, and Leon Goretzka can be rotated with Bryan Cristante, Edimilson Fernandes, Leroy Sane, and Jack Cork. Jordan Amavi, Ashley Williams, Kaan Ayhan, Elseid Hysaj can be rotated with Sven van Beek, Angelino, and Franck Tabanou. What's the main point here? Swansea City don't need to spend on depth or reserves this year, or at the very least not right now.

You wouldn't want just $23,000,000 sitting around, and thus it's believed that's why Felix Ooovaro wants to make a splash. While many of the players have been playing great and you don't want to mess with chemistry, there is always the option to improve. Center-midfield was to believe one area Ooovaro may be looking to improve but there has been no specific name attached to him in a transfer sense. One of the biggest names now being thrown around is of course, a Swiss man. More specifically, Ricardo Rodriguez of VfL Wolfsburg who could potentially end up being on the move.

When the name was initially thrown around, there was a ton of laughter surrounding Swansea City. No that Rodriguez is a bad player or anything, but the continuing theme of Ooovaro's club and national team. He has Breel Embolo and Yvon Mvogo as main starting 11 players on both teams that he has signed. He has a prospect in Edimilson Fernandes who has also now joined the Swiss team as a bench player. Now Ricardo Rodriguez who is the Swiss' starting leftback is being linked to Swansea City? That's just hilarious. It appears Felix Ooovaro is trying to build the greatest Black Switzerland National Team ever, but they're all beloved for what they've accomplished thus far. Sooner or later, Swansea/Switzerland will be intertwined with one another with players.

The only issue with this link is that besides the obvious Swiss/Swansea connection, not much else of this works. While Swansea spent $5,000,000 on purchasing Jordan Amavi last year who was from Aston Villa and has been injured a ton, many believe he has a ton of potential. They also spent $3,500,000 on Angelino who's from Manchester City who's expected to be very promising and has done solid in his appearances with Amavi injured. Now you're going to drop every dime you have left on a 3rd purchase on a leftback who while fantastic and one of the best LBs in the world... is it really worth it considering your situation?

The bigger issue here is that VfL Wolfsburg wants a crap-ton for Ricardo Rodriguez. The 24-year old is one of the club's best players and they are currently 2nd in the Bundesliga with 37 points. They are 7 points behind 1st place Bayern Munich by no surprise. Regardless, it's believed that Wolfsburg demand somewhere around $40,000,000 for Rodriguez' services. That's an incredible amount for him and while it may seem fair considering his potential, it is nearly double Swansea's current budget. What does that mean? The only two plausible ways Swansea could get him are if they threw in a current star player to make up the remaining $20,000,000 gap or request more money from the Swansea City board to go ahead and snag up Rodriguez.

We won't know if Ooovaro will opt to do either or just have to move on from Ricardo Rodriguez for now and potentially take a look at him in the Sumer Transfer Window when it will be a fresh slate with new money to spend. It'll be intriguing to see what other names are thrown around associated with Ooovaro and Swansea City, but before we can continue obsessing over all of the semantics of transfers, we have some more matches to play. Swansea City will be facing Sunderland who have fallen down to 18th in the BPL and are right now in position to be relegated. They will be putting up one hell of a battle to fend that off considering they're playing at home, will Swansea be ready?

[Number999]

10-men Swansea prevail against Sunderland, 2-1

Game Recap: That certainly wasn't as easy as you'd expect against a team in the relegation zone but Swansea will take it.

This match was all about avoiding being the team Swansea City have been under Felix Ooovaro. You can't go out and beat a huge Big 6 club, and then falter short against a squad such as Crystal Palace, Leicester City, or Sunderland by only snagging a draw or even losing. Swansea City had to come out with a mentality that they were better, and that they weren't go to roll over and lie down and be defeated by a desperate Sunderland club, even though they were playing at Stadium of Light.

Things went just to plan early on for Swansea. Angelino was down the wing early on in the match and managed to get around Adam Matthews who was defending him. It allowed Angelino to race into the box and get into position to shoot a finesse shot. Costel Pantilimon who is Sunderland's goalie missed the initial save, and then Younes Kaboul came running in attempting to block the shot, and instead he deflected it into the back of the net. It still counted as a goal for Angelino, and Swansea City were up just 3 minutes into the match. Perhaps it was Angelino's way of telling Ooovaro that he's capable of being offensive, and he doesn't need to sign Rodriguez?

With that early goal, many speculated this could be a nasty blowout for Swansea City. We're talking 5/6 goals scored and Sunderland would just be totally deflated. But instead after that goal was conceded it was more-so Sunderland in control than Swansea. They eventually striked in the 33rd minute. Diego Rolan passed the ball to Duncan Watmore who was sat right out in front of goal. But, there were numerous Swansea players around him... yet the ball somehow went through Ashley Williams extended legs, missing Elseid Hysaj, and flying into the top right corner of the net to tie up the game for Sunderland at 1-1. Even though it was lucky, it was deserved.

Things went from bad to worse for Swansea. Sunderland kept maintaing possession in the 1st half and it was beginning to frustrate Swansea (even though obviously now the stats tell it was far more 50/50 that they had ever thought). Sven van Beek saw Patrick van Aanholt with the ball on the top wing above Swansea's box and decided to just dive in despite the fact van Aanholt was protecting the ball. He took out both if his back legs, and thus the referee gave him a red card in the 40th minute. Now Swansea City would truly have a huge up-hill battle if they wanted to steal this victory.

But that up-hill battle was successful. Going into the break, Swansea City switched up formations. They brought on Kaan Ayhan so he could replace van Beek and Beek's gap would be on the left wing as Andre Ayew was subbed off. Yvon Mvogo made a huge save on a shot in the 48th minute and deflected it all the way towards the bottom wing where it was 99% likely to go for a throw-in for Sunderland. Filip Kostić who was Sunderland's striker was lightly running after the ball since he knew it would be Sunderland's, but out of no where, Nathan Dyer came sprinting in and was determined to keep the ball in for Swansea. He out-ran Kostic to the ball despite being nearly double the distance away, and slapped the ball away from the out of bounds area picking it back up now starting a little bit of a run for Swansea City, a momentum changer.

He passed the ball up to Leroy Sane, and after a series of passes, got the ball fed back to him as he was entering Sunderland's box. He had defenders draped all over him, and yet he still managed to hold possession. van Aanholt forced him wide though, and now he was barely keeping it in bounds for a goal-kick. Then he was surrounded by Younes Kaboul (the guy who deflected the ball in for Swansea's 1st goal) and Federico Fernandez (the first guy Ooovaro sold when he got to Swansea). Yet somehow, he tossed the ball past both of them, Kaboul missed his tackle, and on one off balance touch Dyer fired it on goal and managed to get past Pantilimon to gift Swansea City the lead 2-1. It was all started up by him saving that ball from Kostic, what a freaking player.

Swansea City would hold on for the victory as they would then proceed to play a 5 at the back formation with 4 players clogging up the midfield and the red-carded van Beek playing the striker role as a gap in play. Sunderland never were truly able to threaten again, and Swansea City came away on the road with a well deserved 3 points. Now they finally get a week off from games and finally get a chance to rest after having played so many matches in such a small gap of time. It won't be a break for Felix Ooovaro though, as he'll have to take care of some more transfer talk through the week.

Stats from Sunderland 1 - Swansea City 2

Spoiler

Other Pictures from Sunderland 1 - Swansea City 2

Spoiler

Angelino's goal tipped in by Kaboul, 1-0 3rd


Watmore's goal that went through Williams, 1-1


Sunderland's offside no goal in the 45th


Dyer splitting two defenders, scoring 2-1 52nd

[Number999]

Goal-fest between Swansea and Wednesday ends 4-2

Game Recap: Swansea City decided to throw their defensive prowess out the window for some offense.

Going into the match, Swansea City wanted to have an easier match than last week when they truly had to put in a grindy effort against Sunderland. They had the fortune of after having played Manchester City, only had to deal with two Barclays Premier League sides who were in the relegation zone. Considering the extended time off with a week break between each game, this was the time where Swansea could keep pace with Manchester United or even hope that United drops points and they can pull back into 1st.

Sadly, the start of the match did not go to plan for Swansea. Despite being at home, Swansea actually were the first ones to concede, and the way it happened was baffling. They had been getting pressure early on but literally 3-4 times at the very last second before they shot the ball, a Sheffield Wednesday defender would come in and take the ball off them or block it preventing them from scoring. Then in the 20th minute, Barry Bannan on the edge of the box whipped in a cross to Lucas Joao who jumped over Jordan Amavi to put Sheffield Wednesday up 1-0 in the early goings.

Despite going down early, Felix Ooovaro's confidence in his club never wavered. In fact, he told his players to go ultra attacking and put pressure on Wednesday. It finally paid off when Swansea were awarded a free kick at the bottom of the box in Sheffield's territory in the 40th minute. Gylfi Sigurdsson whipped in a cross and he found Leon Goretzka for a header at the far post. The goal re-invigorated the offense for Swansea considering how close they had come on multiple opportunities, and it was over for Sheffield Wednesday.

Literally right after kick-off restarted, Gylfi Sigurdsson was at midfield and passed the ball to Leon Goretzka. Sigurdsson started making a run into Wednesday's box since their defense was scattered. He sent in a hard through-ball and even though Sigurdsson was open, it ended up falling to Jonjo Shelvey's feet and he was able to get on his strong foot, fired a shot that was nearly blocked by Darryl Lachman but he simply jumped over the shot. Keiren Westwood failed at saving the shot and just like that in the 43rd minute now Swansea City held the lead at 2-1 right after they were just trailing.

It only got worse in the 2nd half for Sheffield Wednesday. In the 56th minute, Liam Palmer who was playing right-back for Wednesday conceded a penalty by fouling Andre Ayew. It allowed Breel Embolo to step up and he put the penalty away to put Swansea up 3-1. Then in the 69th minute, due to a series of errors by Wednesday players, Elseid Hysaj forced a turnover on a pass that bounced off of him. Embolo scooped it up and quickly sent a pass into the box to Leon Goretzka who was wide open and he managed to fire it around a Wednesday defender to put Swansea City now up 4-1, this game was well over.

Sheffield Wednesday managed to get one back in the 87th minute by Fernando Forestieri who fired a shot past Yvon Mvogo near-post but the match was already over. Swansea City had now run off 3 straight victories in the BPL and had dodged the dreaded losing points via a draw or loss to a lesser club than them. They now get a week off before having to play another FA Cup match that they hope to win to continue advancing in the tournament. Even though there wasn't much action last week, there is some belief that Swansea City may be making some transfer moves this go-around during the week.

Stats from Swansea City 4 - Sheffield Wednesday 2

Spoiler

Other Pictures from Swansea City 4 - Sheffield Wednesday 2

Spoiler

Goretzka's goal for a header to tie up 1-1


Shelvey's goal right after to lead now 2-1


Goretzka's goal to seal the deal now at 4-1

[Number999]

Axel Witsel signs with Swansea City on pre-contract!

BOOM goes the dynamite... and there go so many rumors with it.

Axel Witsel was a highly prized and intriguing player to many clubs this January Transfer Window. His name was thrown around quite a bit, whether it be with Valencia, Atletico Madrid, Stoke City, and a multitude of other clubs, many liked what they saw out of the 28-year old Belgian. While he still had 6 months remaining on his contract at Zenit, the center midfielder could begin negotiations with other clubs if he did not see a deal with Zenit coming in his near future. As it turns out, following the game against West Bromwich Albion in which Swansea City were victorious 2-1 (Ayew scored 2 goals including an 89th minute winner to snag the victory in the FA Cup and push Swansea on into the next round), they locked down on Witzel with a big-time contract.

The reaction to he move was met with overall praise along with a tiny bit of confusion. The deal makes sense that it's a pre-contract since Swansea are simply not capable of a club that can be reckless with it's finances and just sign a player with huge wages as well as paying $30,000,000 for his transfer fee just to have him in your club 6 month sooner. But, there is some confusion as to how Witsel will fit once he's here. The main midfielders are Gylfi Sigurdsson (CAM), Leon Goretzka (CM), and Jonjo Shelvey (CM). How does he fit in?

Well, the belief amongst those that follow Swansea City closely are that Shelvey is going to go to the bench and serve as a main super-substiutute while Witsel will get his spot in the starting 11. It's come with mixed thoughts on the idea. While Witsel would become one of the best if not the best player on Swansea when he signs, Jonjo Shelvey is 4-years younger and is English. He should be given the nod over Witsel due to the sheer fact he's been here longer. But, when removing those aspects from it, it makes sense. Bryan Cristante's loan deal expires this upcoming season and even though Swansea could buy him off of AC Milan, he hasn't impressed over-whelmingly enough to really warrant it. He's done solid no question and Milan should be happy with his progress, but the gap between him and Witsel and Shelvey is there.

So that's one key part of the move that makes sense. It continues boosting up Swansea City's starting 11 as well as it's bench since it moves everybody down the pecking order improving the overall quality. Plus, injuries and stamina must be a factor whether you'd like to include it or not. That means that Swansea City will have Angel Correa, Jonjo Shelvey, and Sven van Beek, all ready to come off the bench and make a major contribution next season if things continue going to plan. All 3 of those lads could make excellent members as part of the starting 11, so Swansea just seem to get better and better. Let's just hope egos and playing time moving forward don't hurt them. If there's anything that can tear this team apart, it would be just that.

What does this move mean for the remaining transfers this window though? Well, it likely puts the Ricardo Rodriguez fantasies to bed. They won't have the wages as well as the combined transfer money to lockdown a player of his caliber anymore with this move. Perhaps Ooovaro will still be interested in other left-backs or potentially other positions of depth moving forward in the coming days as the January Transfer Window comes to a close. As of right now on the 28th, Swansea City are due for a match against Everton. Everton have not dropped off like many people projected them to so it's going to be one hell of a battle against each other to see who can rise to the top. Swansea City remain in 2nd behind Manchester United while Everton are in 4th.

Oh and.... I think we may actually have some news on Ricardo Rodriguez and Felix Ooovaro.

[Number999]

Ricardo Rodriguez fiasco with Swansea City and Ooovaro

If you actually plan on reading all of this, I suggest taking a seat and getting comfortable, because this one is gonna be a doozy. Think David De Gea with the fax machine between Manchester United and Real Madrid but only on steroids. In fact, not only just steroids but more like Jose Canseco steroids with HGH thrown in as well.

So, as it turns out, the rumors connecting Felix Ooovaro and Ricardo Rodriguez did turn out to be true. Ooovaro really liked what Rodriguez did for Switzerland in the 2016 Euros and he also has been able to study him enough to know just how elite he can be. Thus, Swansea City started to show interest and question VfL Wolfsburg what they would like for Rodriguez. In exchange, Swansea City received an answer of somewhere between the $36,500,000 and $44,000,000 range. It as well outside of their current budget rate, and quite simply even though it seems crazy, Rodriguez is one of the best left-backs in the world, it actually isn't all that crazy of a price tag.

Regardless, Swansea had to go back to the drawing board. They offered basically the maximum of their transfer budget (around $22,000,000) along with throwing around different players along with the 22 million. This was prior to the Axel Witsel signing, yet there are now reports coming out that look very bad on Felix Ooovaro. Some of the names that were mentioned include Jonjo Shelvey, Jordan Amavi, Andre Ayew, Jack Cork, and Sven van Beek as players that Ooovaro threw at VfL Wolfsburg and they turned down each and every single one of them because they weren't interested in any of them. It was a hard blow for Ooovaro since he truly did love and imagine what Rodriguez could provide in Swansea City, and yet it seems like it wouldn't happen.

That's when Felix Ooovaro decided to turn to his board. Over the course of the last year and a half, he has built up a strong reputation with the members there of what he's been capable of. He didn't want to scare off the board and make them not offer anything but without changing what he believes is fair expectations in the league and all, he asked for $10,000,000 from the board. They entrusted in him and he had built up enough good-will that they felt like they could indeed do the deal. It was huge for Ooovaro, and now he had to do the best with the extra 10 million to make sure it was put to good use.

But, Felix Ooovaro knew that the additional cash and cash alone would be enough to make VfL Wolfsburg pull the trigger. They desired so much more than just cash... they needed something worth their while to pull the trigger and actually move their best player who's the one of the best at his positions. Thus, he did what no man thought he would. He made a bid of $32,800,000 along with young promising striker Angel Correa to VfL Wolfsburg in hopes that they would accept. It was a mammoth deal for the 24-year old Swiss man. Correa was rumored to right now be worth around $22,000,000 and he could go up to north of $30,000,000 considering his recent performances. Now with the news leaked, many believe that Swansea are getting hosed on the deal. That's nearly $70,000,000 in money on a left-back, is he freaking insane?

Then the news came. VfL Wolfsburg had agreed to the transfer. Ooovaro was screaming halleujah in his office and he moved on to trying to lockdown Ricardo Rodriguez and convince him to make the move to the Barclays Premier League. Rodriguez' demands were fairly standard. He had been making $140,000 a week in the Bundesliga and now with the move to the BPL, he desired a bump up to $170,000. Of course he'd be a crucial player for Swansea and all, and it was fairly standard from there. Ooovaro was fairly confident he could convince the 24-year old to come on over and be with some of his international teammates and continue to grow his fame with one of the top clubs in the BPL.

Then the news came in. Ricardo Rodriguez had declined the contract offer by Swansea City. He had cited reasons that he felt he was the best at VfL Wolfsburg and he didn't want to downgrade in team repertoire by going to Swansea City. Felix Ooovaro was reportedly in total and utter disbelief. How could he do this to him? He felt like once he had gotten over the hurdle of getting Wolfsburg to agree to a fair transfer deal that it would be smooth sailing from there on out. Yet instead, he declined the deal and now Ooovaro with his extra $10,000,000 that he asked from the board was caught out in no man's land, with no signings to show for it.

That's when Swansea City acted erratically. Moving on from Rodriguez, they decided to official sign Axel Witsel. They had been leading him on for a few weeks now with his terms of $170,000 over 5 years, and they had no actually accepted and let Zenit know that it was official. They had begun worrying that Witsel would be pissed off at Swansea for not locking him down, or run the risk of Witsel getting a deal done at Zenit or potentially with another club that was interested in his services. Thus they signed him, and it was believed that effectively put to death the idea that Swansea City would sign Ricardo Rodriguez.

But then, Felix Ooovaro had a revelation. He couldn't simply choose not to sign any one player despite the fact that now their wage money allowance ha dropped. It was bleeping $33,000,000 just sitting in the bank waiting to be used. He threw out a few flyer offers to other players, including Isco from Real Madrid and Alex Sandro from Juventus. Of course, neither led anywhere. That's when Ooovaro decided to go back over Ricardo Rodriguez and said he wasn't going to be defeated. He spoke with Breel Embolo and Yvon Mvogo, and after discussing with them what had occurred, they decided to make a decision on their own. They would fly out to Germany to go and meet with Ricardo Rodriguez and try to convince him to move on over to Wales with Swansea City and be apart of something great here. Somehow, despite all of the moving parts, none of this was leaked out by any major media outlet. You either gotta give props to Swansea/Rodriguez or say what the hell is the media doing?

After Mvogo and Embolo had met with Rodriguez through the week between their matches against West Brom and Everton, they had convinced Rodriguez that a move to Swansea City wouldn't hurt his career, but only enhance it. They stated that Swansea wasn't just some sort of mid-table club or that they were a fluke, they were truly one of the top teams in the BPL. With Rodrigues coming over, they would only get better and they could seriously challenge Manchester United in the league as well as go on a run in the Champions League. Ooovaro re-submitted and offer to Rodriguez that boosted his wages up to $210,000 which was 1/3 extra of what he made at Wolfsburg. Rodriguez sat down, and after a couple of days, officially agreed to the terms of the contract.

There's only just.... on teensy tiny issue with that move. In order to have met Rodriguez' demands and boost up his wages by such an amount, Swansea had to re-allocate some money from their transfer budget... and they didn't have a lot to work around with considering they were paying Wolfsburg just about all of it. When they went to process the paperwork, this seemingly huge gaff went by without notice to any member of Swansea City. When FIFA had the responsibility of going through the paperwork, they discovered it, and now the details and all of the behind the scenes stuff that has been going on has reared it's ugly head right in front of the entire footballing world's audience.

As of right now, Ricardo Rodriguez is still a member of VfL Wolfsburg. Angel Correa is still a member of Swansea City. The only difference is that now everybody in the world and their mother knows about what has gone down to get to this very point. Swansea have to find the extra $6,500,000 to make up for the money they re-allocated to wages to actually pay VfL Wolfsburg what they had agreed to when they accepted their transfer offer. The bad part? I don't know how Ooovaro is going to do that unless he asks for some more money out of the board (why the hell would they do that?) or they'd have to sell off a current player.... yea.... that's not gonna be so easy now with the fact that every football club in the world knows you badly need that 6.5 million.

So there you have it. That is the drama llama/saga of this 2017 January Transfer Window. As you can imagine, there are right now a lot of pissed off Swansea players. It should start with Angel Correa, but how about from there? Jordan Amavi and Angelino should be super pissed off that Swansea are going to such extents to get a new left-back. How about all of those guys mentioned that Swansea reportedly were willing to move? Shelvey, Ayew, van Beek, and Cork all have the right to be incredibly pissed at Ooovaro right now. The best part in all of this is that now Swansea have a match to play against a Top 4 club in Everton. Now THAT'S how you get people talking about a match and making them want to tune in, the only bad part is will this all implode on Ooovaro's face all cause he wanted a freaking Swiss left-back?

[Number999]

Embolo continues utter tear, Swansea beat Everton, 4-2

Game Recap: It seems that all of a sudden, Swansea City have turned into an offensive team.

Heading into the match, many people had Everton as a sweet upset pick. Playing at home in Goodison Park, they were 4th in the BPL with 44 points and Swansea City were due for one of their bad losses. While those that selected in such a way started feeling confident once Everton came back from an 0-2 deficit, they quickly discovered why Swansea were at the position they were. They were resilient, and they never backed down even when they conceded the huge lead they once held. Perhaps you can attribute some of that to Felix Ooovaro but his players and specifically Breel Embolo are just killer.

The first goal for Swansea City was a brilliant run that was sprung by Jonjo Shelvey. (trying to show Ooovaro he was wrong?) He saw Embolo pressing the back-line and at the perfect time, sent a through-ball on past every Everton defender and Embolo just had acres of space to work with. He slid one right past Jack Butland to the near-post. In the 9th minute, in the face of adversity with many speculating that Ooovaro's team may implode in his own face, rested many of the worries of numerous Swansea City supporters.

Those worries were only further relaxed when in the 22nd minute, Phil Jagielka brought down Andre Ayew recklessly in the box by shoving him to the ground to give Swansea a penalty. Some say it was embellished by Ayew with the way he fell flat on his *** for the penalty, but it was still quite obvious regardless. Breel Embolo stepped up and put it away in the top left corner where Butland couldn't even touch him. Up 2-0 on the road, it appears that not a single Swansea player had turned on Ooovaro despite all the information being leaked about some potential transfer deals. It looked like things could go from bad to worse for Everton if they didn't sure up at the back of their defense.

But, you aren't a Top 4 club in the BPL if you're a team that just collapses when they trail. There's just too many games in the season that you have to face adversity at one point or another. In the 45th minute right before the 1st half was going to come to a close, Jordan Amavi tackled Gerard Deulofeu recklessly down the bottom wing for a yellow card. There was no way Amavi was going for the ball so many called him dirty, but it was later shown that Amavi said "if you're going to dive I'm going to make sure the pain is real." right in Deulofeu's face in an earlier skrimmish. Some were happy that a diver finally got paid for what he does, and then that opinion quickly faded. On the free kick, Leighton Banes ripped in a cross to the box and in the 45th minute right before the break, Deulofeu jumped over Leon Goretzka and headed a ball on goal to make it a 1-2 game with Everton only being down 1 goal now.... crap.

Things didn't get much better right out of the gate in the 2nd half. You would have taken being up 2-1 at the break on the road against a Top 4 club at the moment in the BPL, but that lead didn't last. In just the 51st minute, Romelu Lukaku got right around Ashley Williams in dirty fashion in the top of the box. Then he got closer to the out of bounds area when he suddenly whipped in a cross to the center where Muhamed Bešić was totally uncovered and smashed a header right past Yvon Mvogo to tie up the match. Maybe there was a mental lapse in Swansea's defense or what, but seriously no one marking him? That's just bad in every facet of the game, and certainly not BPL standard.

But, no matter what Everton did, it didn't matter. Why? Because Swansea City have Breel Embolo. That's all that matters. He put a goal away in the 54th minute later just minutes right after Everton were celebrating their goal in how they tied up the match. It was just another one of those games where he had scored 3 goals in a match and now he has 23 goals in the Barclays Premier League which is so far in front of anybody else that people are already crowning him the golden boot champion. Swansea tacked on another goal in the 90th minute with Everton pressing and it was just an easy finesse goal off a pass from Balde Diao Keita.

Swansea City continue to string together more and more victories. After the Ricardo Rodriguez issues with transfers that even following this victory remain up in the air with deadline day creeping forward, Swansea's players didn't quit on Felix Ooovaro. They were professionals, and he was a professional in the way he managed them. This is a fantastic victory for Swansea fans considering the amount of doubt and laughing that surrounded them after all that news leaked. Now, before they have to play another match, we have more transfer news to get to. Let's get on with it and see what ends up happening.

Stats from Everton 2 - Swansea City 4

Spoiler

Other Pictures from Everton 2 - Swansea City 4

Spoiler

Shelvey's through-ball for Embolo's goal, 1-0


Deulofeo's goal to make it 1-2 right before 1st half


Besic's goal to tie up the match, 2-2


Dyer's goal that put the match to rest, 4-2