Swansea City captain Ashley Williams hails summer signings

15th July

Ashley Williams believes Swansea City's summer signings will bring added quality to Garry Monk's squad.
The Swans have recruited Swedish international goalkeeper Kristoffer Nordfeldt, French left-back Franck Tabanou, Ghanaian Andre Ayew and Portuguese forward Eder this summer.
Nordfeldt will provide strong competition for Lukasz Fabianski in the battle for the No.1 role at the club while Tabanou will do the same for left-back Neil Taylor.
Ayew, who has 62 caps for Ghana, can play in a number of forward roles while Eder will bring extra competition to the striker role with Bafe Gomis.
And Williams feels the new arrivals have helped raise the bar in terms of quality within the squad.



"The guys have done a good job of bringing in new players with good personalities. They have settled straight into the group and it feels like they have been here for ages," said the Swans and Wales skipper.
"On the pitch, they are learning the way we play and paying extra attention to what the gaffer has to say. They are really good guys and talented players - they will definitely add quality to the group.
"Fabs had a great season here and we know what he's all about, but Kris has come in and he's very vocal - I enjoy it when he's on my team in training as he gives me a lot of information. He looks a very solid goalkeeper.
"Franck has been brought in to compete with Tayls, which is great. Competition drives players on.
"Franck has a very good left peg and the early impressions are that he's a very good player.
"You can see why Andre comes with such a big reputation. It's good for me too as he's an experienced player and he takes responsibility vocally on the pitch.
"Eder is a very big lad. He's powerful, quick, never stops moving and he's got a good strike on him.
"He'll be an exciting player and he's got all the attributes to be a success here. We're all trying to help him settle in. He'll be suited to the British game because of the physical attributes he has.
"It's great that we can attract players of this quality. It seems like we are getting players that are our first-choice.
"People want to play at Swansea, and we are a club that is talked about around the world. A lot of people admire the way we play.
"Last year we brought in very good players who added to the group, and this year we may not have brought in as many players but the quality seems to be very high."



After a few weeks of double training sessions, the Swans take in their first pre-season friendly tonight when Monk's men face Champions League qualifiers Borussia Monchengladbach
in Grassau, South Germany, tonight (6pm local time; 5pm BST).
And Williams believes it will be a perfect yardstick for his fellow team-mates to judge where they are in terms of preparation for the new season.
"The game tonight will be a very good test. That's what we want at this stage - a game against a very good team," added Williams.
"You think you're doing well and are fit before you've played a game, but these games allow you to judge where we are.
"They are strong friendlies coming up for us and we are raring to go because we've trained for a few weeks without a game."

Follow the game tomorrow night against Borussia Monchengladbach (kick off 6pm local time; 5pm BST) with live updates on our Twitter account while a full report will follow after the game via www.swanseacity.net

You can also watch the game via a live stream by clicking HERE

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