Ian Holloway managing to locate Stephan Negru’s confidence will make it a slam-dunk signing for Swindon Town, according to those who know him best.
Swindon completed their second signing of the summer in Negru, someone Ian Holloway said was “a combative centre-back who is also very comfortable on the ball.”
To learn more about the Moldova international, The Adver spoke to Danny Shepherd of the One Up Front podcast, who saw him play for Salford City, and he has a very high opinion of the defender.
He said: “He came in before pre-season, and initially I thought he was alright, although he wasn’t really dominating, so he was probably going to be a decent squad player for us, but from when the season started until he was recalled by Oxford [United], he blew my mind.
“He is one of the cleanest tacklers I have ever seen, and his judgement of when to go for a tackle and when to jockey was superb.
“He is not the biggest physical presence, but everything he does, he seems to do accurately, and for that first four or five months, in my personal scoring system, he was an eight or nine out of ten every week.
“In that time, I thought he was one of the best loan players I had ever seen, and Bradford [City] were sniffing around him and apparently bidding for him towards the £1 million mark.
“From thinking he was going to be a squad player, he was someone who was dominating League Two and probably would have done so in League One. That just seemed to be his level, as he was consistent every week, and I just thought he would continue to grow and could become a Premier League player.”
Read more
How new signing Clark solves one of Swindon's biggest problems from last season
Where Swindon stand on targets as they look to step up transfer dealings
The summer's first signing and sale give big clue for this season's plans
However, his growth has not been quite so stratospheric in the time since that first half-season at The Peninsula Stadium, as his form was not the same when he returned on loan following a recall from Oxford.
Last term, he was sent back by Bristol Rovers in January after they struggled, and then he played out the campaign at relegation-threatened Tranmere Rovers.
Shepherd said: “He got recalled around the Manchester City game, and he pushed to come back, but when he came back, he started misjudging the flight of the ball or taking the wrong angle when going for a tackle, and those weren’t things he had done before.
“I think that it must have been a confidence thing, because he was always in the right place and put his body on the line before.
“He seemed to get a facial injury and was wearing one of those masks, which probably didn’t help his anticipation, and he was a bit more tentative.”
At Swindon, Negru is likely to be playing alongside a physically dominant defender in Ryan Tafazolli, and Shepherd believes that is something that would suit him.
He said: “He was playing alongside Curtis Tilt, who was nicknamed ‘The Axe Man’, and that is not quite what Negru did, he wanted to win the ball back, but did it so cleanly, he would just nip in and take it.
“He just has a really nice balance as a defender, and was really popular at Salford.”
Negru’s career to this point has been difficult to pin down, but Shepherd was sure to say that he has huge potential.
He added: “I think someone needs to reach him in his head, because his physical ability and natural judgement of games, I have never seen someone as good in my time watching Salford.
“In two years, if you told me a Championship team wanted him, or even one that had just gone up to the Premier League, it wouldn’t be a surprise.”
