Swansea City will curse the issue that saw bargain deal for Bayern Munich star fall through

After playing for one of the most prestigious and well-known teams in the world, Bayern Munich, for the previous five years, Alphonso Davies, a Canadian international, is a household name in football.

In a different reality, though, the left-handed player from Canada might have played for Swansea City in 2017 after receiving a tip from Carl Robinson, the Vancouver Whitecaps’ manager at the time, who made the Swans aware of his ability.

As everyone is aware, Davies has developed into one of the best football players in the world, competing for both Canada’s national team and Bayern Munich, while Swansea is a middle-of-the-table Championship team fighting for survival in the second division of English football.

Even if Swansea and Davies look like a million miles apart right now, things could have turned out quite differently.

Swansea will curse work permit issue which meant they missed out on Alphonso Davies

When Welshman Carl Jones, who was coaching the Vancover Whitecaps at the time, informed his fellow countrymen at Swansea that he had a promising player in Davies and that he was being courted by agent David Baldwin, the then-Premier League Swansea team was looking to expand its roster back in 2017.Swansea reportedly thought Davies would have been a great investment and fit their style while playing elite football, according to The Daily Mail. But work permit laws destroyed any chance of an agreement to bring the Canadian international to SA1. To play football in the United Kingdom, a foreign player must obtain a work visa, as is customary for any team that contracts them. Clubs are obliged to apply for permits using a points-based system administered by the UK home office; however, Davies’ application did not meet the necessary level. Swansea City cannot afford to lose any of its two main players this summer. Born in Ghana to Liberian parents, Davies moved to Canada when he was five years old. Swansea was not granted a work permit, even though at sixteen he had been capped by his country and was recognized as one of the top players in his age group. Clubs in the UK were unable to persuade the home office to reverse their decision because of Canada’s poor FIFA rating, low wages, and the £3 million transfer cost. Davies continued to play for the Vancouver Whitecaps before being acquired by Bayern in January 2019. The Swans will be regretting Davies’ inability to obtain a work permit every time they watch him play, and what at the time seemed like the end of the world has happened has turned out to be a major miss. The performances of Alphonso Davies will have greatly frustrated Swansea City.

Davies joined Bayern Munich five and a half years ago, and in that time he has made nearly 200 appearances for the German powerhouse. Davies has established himself as an important player.

The 23-year-old played 42 games for Bayern in the 2023–24 campaign, recording six assists and three goals in a disastrous campaign that saw the Bavarian team fail to bring home any hardware.

Every time Swansea sees Davies playing at the highest level of European football, they can only speculate about what might have been. Davies very well might have played for Swansea City in the 2017–18 campaign, and he might have prevented their relegation if it weren’t for complications with his work permit.

There have been speculations over Davies’ future at the Allianz Arena since his contract expires at the end of the current campaign. Swansea can probably safely assume that they won’t be in the running for his signature if the Canadian decides to make a move soon.

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