Swansea City striker Bafetimbi Gomis today completed his loan move to Marseille.
Gomis is the third forward in Swansea’s ranks to leave the club this summer, with Alberto Paloschi and Euro 2016 hero Eder already out the door.
Chairman Huw Jenkins has already stated that the squad needs “one or two” forwards, and they should be expected with this mass exodus.
It is thought that Swansea will continue to pay 40% of Gomis’ wages and there isn’t an option for Marseille to buy him permanently in the loan deal.
Gomis is the seventh Swansea player to go out on loan this season, joining Kyle Bartley, Matt Grimes, Ryan Hedges, Liam Shephard, Josh Vickers and Oliver Davies.
Gomis’ Swansea legacy
The Frenchman was signed on a free transfer from Olympique Lyonnais in 2014 as a backup to Wilfried Bony and became then his replacement.
Gomis scored important goals against Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City but found himself out of favour towards the end of last season, after Paloschi was signed from Chievo.
He caused a stir amongst fans, with a large percentage of the Swansea faithful wanting him to be sold for the past 12 months. They were outraged due to his lack of workrate and constantly being offside, in addition to his lack of scoring beyond September 2015.
Gomis scored 17 goals in 71 games since he joined the club in 2014.
Who can Swansea replace him with?
The majority of forwards linked with a move to South Wales have been target men, so it’s safe to assume that’s the type of striker Francesco Guidolin has asked for.
Recently there have been strong rumours that the club have moved for former Spanish international striker Fernando Llorente, who is looking to leave Sevilla after a poor season.
There have also been links with former Swansea hero Bony, who looks set to leave Manchester City. Everton also appear keen on the Ivorian but the player probably wouldn’t make the move as long as Romelu Lukaku is at the club.