Spireites working on a link with Swansea that could yield potential signings

Last week the club’s head or recruitment and development spent time at the Liberty Stadium and cast his eye over a number of the Swans’ young prospects.

Town’s January transfer deadline day dealings in the loan market didn’t exactly go to plan.

One loan signing was sent back to his parent club after a number of ‘incidents’ and other youngsters who came in struggled to make an impact.

But Guy Branston says it remains an avenue they must explore.

“You can’t discard a pot,” he said.

“I went over to Swansea last Tuesday, met the chairman, met the guys who recruit and are locally based, I know them personally and they invited me over.

“I went and met some of the Under 23s, saw them train.

“I went to spend time with Swansea to develop a link for the football club.

“We’ve got good links in and around the Premier League.”

The former Notts County recruitment chief has stated a number of times since arriving at the Proact that the club’s search for talent has to take them to all the different levels of the game in the UK.

“I’m out there doing the work and if we can go into that pot for a loan talent that we’ve seen and the gaffer has mentioned and I’ve mentioned, then great,” he said.

“If we can’t, then we’ll go non-league, if we can’t then we’ll go first team.

“We know the first team lads in and around League One and League Two are going to cost us a fortune.

“The non-league pot has got to be something we entertain, the 23 pot is something we’ve got to entertain.”

Having failed to do so recently, Chesterfield are keen to cut their cloth accordingly as a League Two operation and Branston admits that even a loan deal with a young star at a Premier League club could prove prohibitive when it comes to cost.

But he’s adamant that putting the miles in and securing meetings with the right people at bigger clubs could open up possibilities for the Spireites.

“They’re on a fortune some of these kids, but we might get a deal if we go and meet face to face with the Swanseas, the Liverpools, the Arsenals, the Evertons, or use the gaffer’s links with Celtic and Wigan,” he said.

“You’ve got to be open to any ideas.”