Swansea Vindicated After Passing Up on Reds Outcast Lazar Markovic Following Revelation by New Boss

Swansea City must be feeling like they dodged a bullet by deciding to pass up on signing Lazar Markovic from Liverpool last month.

The Serbian attacker has endured a torrid spell since joining the Reds from Benfica in 2014, hardly getting a shout under German boss Jurgen Klopp. He completed his fourth loan move as a Liverpool player on Transfer Deadline Day, signing a loan deal with Belgian outfit Anderlecht, despite strong interest from the Swans.

(You may also be interested in: Liverpool Midfielder Adam Lallana Could Miss Tottenham Clash On Sunday as He May Not Be Ready)

A move to the Liberty Stadium had actually been agreed upon by Liverpool and Swansea, yet the 23-year-old is now in the Jupiler Pro League, where he will be hoping to resurrect his career ahead of the upcoming World Cup.

Markovic has already suffered a huge setback, however, as it's been determined that he will need about five weeks to achieve optimal match fitness.

Alex Livesey/GettyImages

"I think we will be without him for four or five weeks," Anderlecht manager Hein Vanhaezebrouck revealed in quotes cited by WalesOnline.

"He has a very big gap and is conditional not yet ready to play. So there is a lot of work to be done, but we hope that he can make rapid progress. He can play in different positions, but he has to get up to speed quickly."

Swansea, meanwhile, signed Andy King from Leicester City on loan until the end of the season. Premier League rules made it so that they couldn't have signed another loan player from a top-flight club, but they're very unlikely to regret choosing King over Markovic now.