Swansea City: Three hopes, one fear

Hope #3: That Leon Britton has another year of Premier League football left in him.

Britton has had a long, storied career with Swansea that goes back to 2002 and the club’s dark days in League Two. Aside from a one year blip at Sheffield United Britton has been with the club throughout their entire run through the English Premier League pyramid, making 522 appearances with the club.

The big problem is that Britton is 33 years old and has a lot of wear on his legs. Although he did make 23 appearances with the side last season at times it appeared that his play was slipping. So the focus Guidolini this season will be to utilize Britton in a more effective manner, to find a player who can take over some of his responsibilities.

That player may be Fer. Fer is a bit more of an attacking midfielder than Britton but has shown that he is more than willing to make the extra effort on defense or sit back and help set up the attack. Playing  Fer alongside Britton could in theory create a partnership that would be beneficial to both parties. Fer is not ready to take over the reigns of the center of the pitch and Britton’s career is not exactly over. A 4-4-2 combination with Britton playing a bit behind Fer may be a formation worth examining.

Next: The big fear: that losing Ashley Williams may spell doom for the Swans.