Swansea City new boy Gylfi Sigurdsson to emulate Demba Ba impact
- Published
Midfielder Gylfi Sigurdsson has won six caps for Iceland
Iceland international Gylfi Sigurdsson hopes to make a similar impact at Swansea City as former Hoffenheim team-mate Demba Ba has made at Newcastle.
The 22-year-old midfielder is set to make his Swansea debut in their FA Cup third round tie at Barnsley on Saturday after his loan deal was completed.
Ba has revelled since arriving in the Premier League, scoring seven goals at West Ham then 15 for Newcastle.
"He has made a big impact and I hope I can do the same at Swansea," he said.
"Demba has been doing alright and has scored quite a few goals.
"He is a good friend of mine who I speak to a lot. He is very happy with life at Newcastle and in the Premier League.
"He told me he loved the way that Swansea play football, especially the way they keep the ball for long periods.
"He has scored 15 goals so I don't know if I can score that many, but hopefully I can chip in with a few and help the team get some points."
Senegal striker Ba, who left German Bundesliga club Hoffenheim for the Premier League in January 2011, has helped fire Newcastle into European contention while Sigurdsson is at the Liberty Stadium to help secure Swansea's Premier League status.
Sigurdsson was handed his first chance at Reading during Rodgers' short stint with the club in 2009 and he left such an impression that it was an easy decision to overlook interest from Aston Villa and the Royals to move to the Liberty Stadium.
"There were a couple of other clubs interested," said Sigurdsson, who
"But as soon as Swansea showed interest I made my mind up straight away. Brendan called me and tried to persuade me - but I told him I had already made my mind up so I didn't need any persuasion.
"I haven't played much because I missed two months of pre-season after being injured with the under-21s and haven't had many chances so it only took a couple of days for the clubs to agree the deal and hopefully I can gel in quickly and get going."
The former Reading playmaker is reunited with Brendan Rodgers as the old Royals boss hopes to benefit from Sigurdsson's impressive goalscoring ability - he scored 20 goals for Reading in the 2009/10 season - to ease the goal burden of the top-flight's third lowest scorers.
"Gylfi is a goal-scoring midfielder player, a wonderful talent and a type of player I like to work with as he is 100% concentrated on his life as a footballer," said Rodgers.
"And especially in the second half of the season when we are looking to continue to get goals from the midfield area. He gives us penetration.
"I like to have plenty of midfielder players, especially intelligent ones as they allow you to play them in different positions, which allows you to find difference solutions in different games."