Swansea have just released their retained list and, amongst the expected departures, one stands out – striker Andre Ayew.
Swansea lost the Championship Play-Off Final to Brentford and this might have played a part in the thinking of both parties when it came to negotiations and contract offers.
Ghana captain Ayew was one of the big earners at the Liberty Stadium – on a reported £80,000-per-week wage. The wage situation is something that Ayew has been open about when talking to the press.
Ayew is now moving towards free agency when his contract runs out at the end of this month and it is unlikely that a player of his calibre will be on the free-agent pile for long.
Andre Ayew: time at Swansea City recalled
31-year old Ayew has been with the Swans since joining from West Ham on Deadline Day, January 31 2018.
This was his second spell at the club, having arrived from Marseille in a 2015 free transfer deal. From his arrival, he did not take long to endear himself to the Jack Army faithful on the terraces.
During his time at the Welsh club, Ayew has gone on to make 141 appearances – scoring 47 goals and providing 19 assists.
Ayew has been particularly potent across the last two seasons with Swansea City. In that time he has been the spearhead of their attack – scoring 33 Championship goals and providing 11 assists across 92 games.
However, with the release of their retained list, Andre Ayew’s time at Swansea has come to an end and it is time for him to take the next steps in his career.
Bournemouth, Fulham and Sheffield United – three teams where Ayew would fit
His high wage will be a problem for many Championship sides who are having to cut their cloth carefully due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
However, Bournemouth, Fulham and Sheffield United will be buoyed by Premier League parachute payments so they’d be able to afford his demands.
Here is a look at Ayew and his output when compared to the season output of each club’s main goal scorer last season:
Andre Ayew – just why he’d be a fit
As the above comparison, courtesy of Squawka.com shows, Andre Ayew more than matches up to each team’s main goalscorer in various areas of output.
Bournemouth are a side likely to feel an intense interest in attacking forward Arnaut Danjuma (17 goals/seven assists) after his performances in last season’s Championship campaign. This would leave a position open alongside Dominic Solanke – that’s if he stays. Ayew scores better than Solanke on the goal front (17 goals to 15) and created more chances (36 to 33) than his Bournemouth counterpart. He also bettered Solanke in lay-offs to teammates (40 to 30) and completed take-ons (68 to 62).
Sheffield United struggled in the Premier League and did so all season long. David McGoldrick (eight goals) and Billy Sharp (three goals) were their main threats in the top-tier. Both are quality Championship strikers but adding Ayew to the Blades ranks would improve them. Even taking into account the division difference, Ayew beats McGoldrick in every category. This would suggest that he’d be a big benefit to United’s attempt to regain their Premier League berth at the first time of asking.
Fulham could well lose Aleksandr Mitrovic who some think might not fancy another Championship campaign at the head of the Cottagers attack. That was an attack spearheaded by Bobby Cordova-Reid in the Premier League where he scored eight goals. Cordova-Reid has a marginally better shot conversion rate (22.73% to 22.67%) than Ayew but the ex-Swansea man has more goal (17 to 5), more assists (4 to 2) and easily more lay-offs (40 to 21) and take-ons (68 to 27).
In short, Andre Ayew would be an asset to each of the above Championship sides and would easily complement their squad next season.
