Swansea City will have huge 2023 Blackpool regret after Hull City developments | OneFootball

Swansea City sold Kyle Joseph to Blackpool as part of the Jerry Yates deal

Swansea City looked to have pulled off a real statement of intent signing when they brought Jerry Yates to the club in the summer of 2023, but it's fair to say that it hasn't quite gone to plan.

Yates is still a contracted Swansea player, although he's currently on loan at Championship rivals Derby County, and he faces an uncertain future when he returns from his loan in the summer.

In hindsight, the vast majority of Swansea's summer 2023 business was poor, and it's no surprise that Paul Watson and Michael Duff, the two people who oversaw it, are no longer at the club.

However, while a number of additions that summer have proved poor value for money, it's perhaps one of their outgoings that summer which could come back to haunt them.

Swansea City will have huge regret over Jerry Yates, Kyle Joseph call

Swansea were so keen to get a deal for Yates over the line in the summer of 2023 that they were willing to allow young striker Kyle Joseph to go the other way and join Blackpool, an offer which the Tangerines accepted.

Joseph had joined Swansea from Wigan Athletic in the summer of 2021 and had made just a handful of appearances thanks to loans with Cheltenham Town and Oxford United, but he looked a decent prospect nonetheless.

Despite impressing with Blackpool during the 2022/23 season, a campaign where his side were relegated, Yates was unable to replicate that form in Swansea, and he scored just nine goals in all competitions.

In fairness to Yates, nine goals isn't an awful return given Swansea struggled for large parts of the season, and the main complaint about him was a lack of involvement in games, although their current striker options are facing the same problems.

Just one year into a three-year deal, Yates has been shipped off to Derby, and while Joseph didn't enjoy the best of debut campaigns at Bloomfield Road, scoring just twice, it's been a different story this year.

The 23-year-old has found his feet at League One level, and he scored seven times in 24 League One games, doing enough to attract the interest of Championship side Hull City, and he sealed a recent move to the MKM Stadium.

The irony shouldn't be lost on Swansea supporters that Joseph, who was sold to Blackpool to complete the deal for Yates, is now playing in the Championship, while Yates isn't even at the club anymore.

In hindsight, Swansea may feel that they should have kept Joseph at the club instead of signing Yates and if the 23-year-old bangs in the goals for Hull City, then it will make their summer 2023 decision even worse.

Swansea City should have more patience with young players

Joseph was only 21 when he was sold to Blackpool and had barely been given a chance, and it's a decision which clearly hasn't aged well as he's now been signed by a Championship club.

Swansea saw it with Morgan Whittaker too. They sold him to Plymouth, where he became one of the most highly sought after players in the EFL last season, and he's set to make the Pilgrims a big transfer fee.

Whittaker departed in the summer of 2023, the same time that Joseph did, and Swansea would almost certainly be better off with those two as their forward options rather than Yates and some of the players at the club currently.

Too many times Swansea have made their mind up on a player who clearly hasn't fulfilled their potential yet, sold them and then seen them thrive elsewhere, and that's exactly what's happened with Joseph.

The Yates deal will always be remembered as a bad bit of business from Swansea's point of view, but the fact that they sold Joseph as part of the deal is often forgotten, and he's now playing for one of their Championship rivals, highlighting the stupidity of it all.