Swansea City supporters had a surprise on Saturday afternoon when they saw a trialist had been named on the bench for their final game of pre-season against Portuguese side Rio Ave.

Whilst it’s common to see trialists named in pre-season squads, particularly during the early stages of pre-season, it was quite a surprise to see Swansea include one in Saturday’s squad, with the Championship season just a week away.

It transpired that the trialist was 23-year-old French winger Ruben Providence of Austrian side TSV Hartberg, and the Jack Army would have liked what they’d seen during his 25-minute cameo, with the player registering an assist for Swansea’s final goal.

Providence has also been on trial with Oxford United, featuring in their win over Southampton last week, and he also impressed at the Kassam Stadium, with Football Insider reporting that both Swansea and Oxford want to sign the player permanently after his trials.

Swansea City must beat Oxford United to sign Ruben Providence

It’s no secret that Swansea have been looking to add more wide players to their ranks this summer, and despite bringing Eom Ji-Sung to the club, the BBC reported recently that Luke Williams was looking to add at least one more.

Earlier in the window, Swansea were reportedly interested in signing Gautier Ott from Portuguese second division side Académico de Viseu, but a move never materialised.

This means that just days away from the Swans’ first Championship game of the season against Middlesbrough, they’re still short of wingers, which makes signing Providence an important deal to sort.

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Eom and Ronald are two excellent options on the wing for Swansea, but there’s not too much depth below that with Josh Ginnelly still injured after the best part of a year out, and Przemyslaw Placheta departing on a free transfer, joining Oxford United, ironically.

It was only a 25-minute cameo, but Providence showed that he had all the tools to be a success at Championship level, assisting Matt Grimes for Swansea’s third goal, and coming close to scoring himself after some impressive trickery beat the Rio Ave defence.

With both sides keen to sign him, Swansea really should be beating Oxford to his signature, and it would be a huge blow if one of their transfer targets opted for a fellow Championship club, particularly a newly promoted one.

Providence will likely weigh up his options and consider a number of factors, but Swansea should be a more attractive proposition for the winger given their recent history and status as a stable Championship club.

Missing out on him would give Williams a real headache so soon to the season starting and would mean Swansea are back to square one in their search for a winger.

Ruben Providence could be a hidden gem

Providence is a former French age-grade international and has spent time on the books at both PSG and Roma, so he’s clearly got something about him.

He never made a first-team appearance for either side and his time in Austria with TSV Hartberg is the first time he’s played first-team football, and it feels like Providence is yet to reach his true potential.

However, at 23, there’s still plenty of time for the youngster to do so, and the two years of playing in the Austrian Bundesliga would have stood him in good stead for any move to the Championship.

Providence has made 54 appearances in total for Hartberg, scoring ten times and registering seven assists, not an awful return by any stretch of the imagination.

He’s actually scored two competitive goals already this season, finding the back of the net twice in Hartberg’s 11-1 win over SK Bischofshofen in the first round of the Austrian Cup last month, so he’s a player with an eye for goal.

It would be silly to read too much into a 25-minute pre-season cameo, but Providence looks like he’d be a solid acquisition to Swansea’s squad, and he’s young enough to develop into a player who could be sold for a decent fee if he improves.

On a free transfer, a permanent deal for Providence could be smart business and Swansea will hope that he’s a hidden gem if he puts pen to paper in SA1.