Swansea act to shore up leaky defence with Claude Makélélé appointment

Swansea City have conceded more goals than any other side in the Premier League, so it wasn’t the greatest shock in the world to see manager Paul Clement attempting to address the problem, by appointing Claude Makélélé as his assistant manager.

Makélélé acted as the shield, sitting in front of the defence during his distinguished playing career with Real Madrid, Chelsea, PSG and the French national side and he was so good, that they actually named a position after him. First referred to as a ‘water-carrier’, in the mould of Didier Deschamps, Makélélé’s ability to cover the ground with his boundless energy soon earned him a new nickname – ‘The Battery’ and the position he occupied is now commonly referred to as ‘the Makélélé role’.

Chelsea’s N’Golo Kanté (who has been referred to as the Duracell bunny) is perhaps the closest player to resemble him in modern day football and Oulala have produced a comparison of the two, dating back to Makélélé’s time at the Bridge, when detailed statistics first became more comprehensive.

There clearly isn’t too much to choose between the two but what would Swansea City fans give, to have a player of that ilk, available to them now, with them embroiled deep in their relegation battle?

A return of 3 clean sheets from 20 matches clearly isn’t good enough, so Clement and Makélélé know exactly where improvement is needed.

Swansea City supporters will be optimistic that the duo can deliver . If they can find a way to shield that leaky defence, they might just manage to secure Premier League football for another season!