da pinnacle： Ever since Swansea City where promoted to the Premier League in 2011, their brand of football has been enthralling. Whether it was under the watchful eye of Michael Laurdrup or even now under Garry Monk, Swansea are a breath of fresh air in England’s top flight. A League Cup win and playing in the Europa League signifies how far this magnificent club has come.
da dobrowin： The Welsh side have been blessed with players who could play for any club in the Premier League. While the likes of Ben Davies, Joe Allen and Michel Vorm played in the white strip before moving onto pastures new, their current crop of internationals are well and truly capable of giving top opposition a scare. Just ask the Swansea fans about their opening day 2-1 away win at Manchester United. The likes of Ashley Williams, Jonjo Shelvey, Wayne Routledge and Wilfred Bony have been outstanding. However, one player that has in the same bracket but has gone under the radar is Iceland international Gylfi Sigurdsson.
The midfield playmaker first burst onto the English football scene at Reading. In the 2009/2010 season he scored an impressive 21 goals in 44 appearances for the Royals while catching the eyes of several Premier League clubs. The 2010/2011 season was his last with Reading, with a £6.5m move to play in the German Bundesliga Hoffenheim the choice he made. After two years in Germany, the Swans snapped up the talented midfielder on loan in the January transfer window of 2012, and he was an instant hit. Scoring seven goals and four assists in 18 games for the Jacks, a move to Liverpool collapsed and Swansea struggled to tie down his signature on a permanent basis.
This led to Sigurdsson moving to London with Tottenham Hotspur, where his time was less successful. In 58 appearances for the North London outfit, the former Breioablik youth player only managed eight goals, and Mauricio Pochettino deemed him surplus to requirements, offering him plus cash for both Vorm and Davies over the summer.
Now back where he rightfully belongs, Sigurdsson has been responsible for seven of Swansea’s 10 goals this season and has played a fundamental part in guiding the Swans to their current position of fifth. Now rejuvenated and back in familiar surroundings, Sigurdsson had four assists by the 2nd September, more than any other player in Europe’s top five leagues, and had more assists in the Premier League than Chelsea’s new singing Cesc Fabregas and Tottenham’s record signing Erik Lamela.
Blessed with great vision, passing and dead-ball prowess, blossoming out of the limelight will benefit him greatly. From a rather disappointing stint under the guidance of Andre Villas-Boas in N17, to playing where he feels loved is exactly the reason why the classy midfielder is currently the most underrated player in the league, and he deserves more praise than he is getting at the moment.
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