Swansea City have completed the signing of midfielder Roque Mesa from Las Palmas.

The 28-year-old has signed a four-year contract at the club, for a fee of £11m.

Chairman Huw Jenkins previously outlined that one of Swansea’s priority this summer was to sign a midfielder, and it looks like they have got their man.

Mesa has become Swansea’s third summer signing, after goalkeeper Erwin Mulder joined the club on a free before Tammy Abraham completed a loan move from Chelsea.

The quotes

After completing his signing, Mesa said: "I’m very happy to be here. It’s a new challenge and a new adventure.” As he penned a four-year deal.

“The manager knows me, he knows how I play and what I can contribute to the team. I’ll try to make the team play."

Mesa was highly complimentary of manager Paul Clement, and said that he is "like [Carlo] Ancelotti - he likes to play and wants to create a different Premier League team which likes to play. The manager is a person who knows how to play and that’s something I really like.

Who is Mesa?

This will be Mesa’s first club outside of Spain, after having spells at Levante B, Huracan and Tenerife B before moving to Las Palmas B and subsequently their first team.

Since being promoted to Las Palmas’ first team in La Liga 2, he has gone on to make 126 appearances and has been a fixture in the side in Spain’s top division since their promotion in the 2014-15 season.

Mesa does seem like your typical Swansea player though, not great in stature at just 5’7” but he is a superb passer and will likely start at the base of Swansea’s midfielder diamond.

Mesa attempted 2404 passes last season and completed 2192 of them, a 91.2% pass completion for the season.

He is built in your Leon Britton mould, but gets much more involved in the opposition third than the Swansea stalwart who only just signed a new contract himself.

Mesa appears more of an all-round player and has performed well in big games, particularly against Real Madrid in their 3-3 draw earlier this season.

This signing could mean that a Swansea midfielder could be moved on, with Britton, Tom Carroll, Jack Cork, Leroy Fer, Ki Sung-Yeung and Jay Fulton all fighting for three midfield places.

The official club website said that Mesa passed his medical Thursday morning, and will train with his teammates for the first time on Monday, although he did meet them on Wednesday.

While Las Palmas also say that the deal includes 15% of Mesa's future surplus value, add-ons if Mesa wins a cap for the Spanish national team and a pre-season friendly in Gran Canaria in the next two years.

VAVEL Logo
About the author
Jack Mceachen
Sports Journalist in Staffordshire University.