Swansea City will be rubbing their hands at chance to offload £18,000-a-week flop this summer | OneFootball

Kristian Pedersen has proved a poor signing for Swansea City and is out of contract this summer

With their place in the 2025/26 Championship secure and nothing to play for going into the final game of the season, Swansea City will already have one eye on the summer.

It's been a strange campaign for the Swans with plenty of upheaval, but results in recent weeks, coupled with Luka Modrić's arrival as an investor means the club seem to be in a decent position heading into the transfer window.

Of course, supporters will be keen to see new arrivals heading to the Swansea.com Stadium in the coming months, but getting players off the wage bill could be just as important for Alan Sheehan's side.

Swansea have a number of experienced players out of contract this summer, and while there's uncertainty over the future of some of them, it looks like the club have an easy decision to make when it comes to deciding Kristian Pedersen's future.

Swansea City will be rubbing their hands at chance to offload Kristian Pedersen

To say that Pedersen's time hasn't gone to plan in South Wales would be an understatement.

The Danish international was a deadline-day arrival from FC Koln for an undisclosed fee in the summer of 2023, and while he possesses plenty of Championship experience thanks to his time with Birmingham City, he hasn't made the desired impact in SA1.

Pedersen made his Swansea debut against Cardiff City in September 2023, a fateful night for the Jack Army as they fell to a 2-0 defeat against their biggest rivals, and the Danish defender endured a tough evening.

In fairness to him, being thrown in at the deep end starting a South Wales Derby was always going to be a tough ask, and he looked off the pace, conceding a late penalty when he brought down Ollie Tanner, which was converted by Aaron Ramsey to hand the Bluebirds all three points.

Since his debut in September 2023, Pedersen has made just a further six appearances for Swansea, with none of those coming in the Championship this season, a damning indictment of how badly the move has worked out.

To make matters worse for the Swans, Pedersen is the club's fourth-highest earner as per Capology, with the former Birmingham City defender pocketing an eye-watering £18,000-a-week.

Given Swansea aren't flush with cash compared to some of their divisional rivals, the fact a bit-part player who hasn't played a single minute in the league this season is their fourth-highest earner will sting, and you'd imagine the Swans' hierarchy are counting down the days until Pedersen is off the wage bill.

In fairness to the Danish international, he has struggled with injuries which have limited his playing time and would explain why he's not played in the Championship this season, but even when he was fit he wasn't in the plans of Luke Williams, spending time on loan at Sheffield Wednesday during the second half of the 2023/24 campaign.

It remains to be seen where the 30-year-old will be playing his football next season, but it's safe to assume that it won't be at Swansea, and his nightmare two-year stay in SA1 will come to an end in the near future.

Swansea City need to use the money saved wisely

With Swansea set to save an estimated £18,000-a-week on Pedersen's wages, they could put that towards a player who will make a big contribution and play an important role.

Swansea have opted to recruit players from foreign leagues in the past couple of years, citing the fact that players are usually cheaper than shopping in domestic markets and have plenty of room to grow and improve. We've seen the likes of Goncalo Franco, Zan Vipotnik, Ronald, Jisung Eom and Florian Bianchini all join the club from abroad in the last 18 months or so with ranging levels of success.

While this is admirable and Swansea have found hidden gems in the past, it's difficult to build a team capable of competing for the play-offs with a squad lacking Championship quality and experience, and they should use the money saved on Pedersen's wages to recruit some proven second-tier talent.

You only have to look at the impact someone like Lewis O'Brien has had on Swansea since his arrival on loan to see how important players like that are, and the club need to find the balance between experienced Championship players and promising talent from abroad if they're to really compete at the right end of the table.

Pedersen's contract expiring this summer provides Swansea with the perfect chance to reallocate those funds to a player who will contribute, and it's an opportunity they can't afford to waste.