Southampton forward Ross Stewart is on the brink of joining Swansea as a free agent after leaving Southampton in June. It is a tidy bit of business for Swansea, but the bigger point is the fit. Vitor Matos has made it clear the club want recruits who add something different, and Stewart gives them a striker with proven Championship output.
Matos wants a different kind of forward
Speaking to BBC Sport, Matos said: "The most important thing when we go to transfers is we try to add something that we don't have or something that is related to the quality of the players [we already have]". He also described Stewart and Andre as "really good players".
That lines up with Swansea's current forward picture. Liam Cullen has already been sold to Leicester City this summer, while Zan Vipotnik and Adam Idah are the senior options in Matos' squad. Stewart would not arrive as a gamble on raw talent. He would arrive as a forward who has already shown he can score at this level.
The numbers from last season are decent even with the injury interruption. Stewart scored nine goals and added two assists in 27 league appearances, despite missing a hefty chunk with a hamstring injury. He also scored the opener in Southampton's 2-1 FA Cup quarter-final win over Arsenal and finished the cup run with two goals.
What Stewart gives Swansea
The appeal is fairly obvious. Swansea are not just buying cover, they are adding pressure on the players already there. Stewart's output at Southampton last term was enough to suggest he can be more than a stopgap, and his spell at Sunderland, where he scored 40 goals in 81 appearances, shows the goal return is not a one-off.
He also has four Scotland caps and was part of Scotland's squad at this summer's World Cup, which adds a bit more experience to the move. But the main draw remains what Matos spelled out: Swansea want signings that shift the quality of the group or bring something the squad lacks. Stewart looks built for that brief, and his arrival would sharpen the competition up front rather than merely pad the squad.
Swansea have not announced the deal yet, but they are close enough for the move to feel like the next step in their summer business.
Written by Jack Mercer with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 1 outlet. How we work →
