Liverpool confirm Jonjo Shelvey has signed for Swansea City

After the news broke this morning that Jonjo Shelvey was due to leave Liverpool Football Club for Brendan Rodgers’ old club, Swansea City few expected the deal to be completed so quickly however Liverpool via their official website have late this afternoon confirmed that the deal has been completed. In an official statement on Liverpoolfc.com the club stated, “Liverpool Football Club have confirmed Jonjo Shelvey has completed a transfer to Swansea City.”

Jonjo Shelvey was one of the first signings made by Damien Comolli during his reign as director of football with the Anfield club back in 2010 with the club looking to add a nucleus of home-grown British players to the squad following the end of the Spanish era at Anfield following Rafa Benitez’s departure from the club a few months earlier. Along with Andy Carroll and Danny Wilson, Shelvey was championed as the future of the club and a long term successor to Steven Gerrard which even at the time seemed farfetched when you compared the two individuals’ playing styles.

In fairness to Shelvey the young midfielder spent a significant amount of time during his spell with Liverpool on the sidelines through injury and it was only during the 2012-2013 campaign that the former Charlton Athletic midfielder was given a real prolonged chance in the first team. Brendan Rodgers was a real fan of Jonjo Shelvey as was made clear in the American produced pre-season documentary ‘Being Liverpool’. However Jonjo Shelvey’s sending off and immediate reaction against Manchester United was a blow from which the midfielder would not recover.

Shelvey struggled to regain the faith of his manager and didn’t spend a prolonged period of time in the team following the January transfer window where Philippe Coutinho and Daniel Sturridge were brought into the club.

Shelvey ended his final season at Anfield with twenty league appearances and one goal and will hope to be much more of a mainstay in Michael Laudrup’s Swansea City side as the Danish coach prepares to send his charges into their inaugural Europa League campaign.

Jonjo Shelvey made sixty nine appearances in total for Liverpool and the club concluded their official statement with well wishes towards the player, “Everybody at Liverpool FC would like to wish Jonjo all the best for the future.”

Follow Chris Winterburn on Twitter @Chriswin4