By Chris Wright

The word on the wire is that, after a few days of rumbling, Swansea have appointed Michael Laudrup as their new manager – with the Dane signing a two-year deal at the Liberty.

It all seems to fit rather nicely: Laudrup was as luxuriously silky-a-player as you’re ever likely to see (if ‘finesseful’ were a word, he’d be very finesseful) and pushes his teams to play in a similar vein – a style and philosophy that Brendan Rodgers also championed at the Swans, so hopefully we can expect a seamless continuation next season.

That said, it’s far from being a forgone conclusion. A fine player he may well have been, but Laudrup’s managerial record is far from gilded – enduring a torrid struggle at Spartak Moscow in particular, fleeing the Russian capital after just one season with a win percentage mired down in the low twenties.

While we’re at it, Swansea chairman Huw Jenkins’ hard yards over the off-season shouldn’t go unheralded: He landed £6-7 million in compensation for Rodgers, also ensuring that Rodgers couldn’t return to snaffle any of his former players and managed to lure Michael Laudrup to South Wales as a replacement. Not bad Sir, not bad at all.

Any excuse to crowbar this in…

Excuse me, I need a minute or two to myself after that.

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