FanView: Carvalhal Has Done a Great Job at Swansea But There's Reason to Hesitate on a New Deal

As the season draws to a close, one thing is starting to cross the minds of Swansea fans all around South Wales - will Carlos Carvalhal's contract be extended?

Now, off the bat, there are very few people (if any) who think that he's undeserving of one. No doubt, Carvalhal came into the club and worked miracles paired with a heartwarming smile ready to deliver some of the best analogies that the Premier League has ever heard. 

The fact is that Swansea were in a rut, to the point where the club had been written off for Premier League survival, destined to go down. Now, having enjoyed the attacking flair of Carvalhal for four months, the Swans are up to 14th, sitting happily with a bit of breathing room away from the bottom three.

Fantastic.

But before we all jump on the idea of tying Carlos down to a four year deal, let's all step back for a second and think rationally.

the argument that Carvalhal has come in and delivered results, thus earning a contract extension is, at this point, entirely redundant. The same thing went for Francesco Guidolin and Paul Clement - and look how both of those cases turned out; each manager sacked before Christmas the following season.

When you strip it all back and look closer than the toothy grin that helps Carvalhal fool us into thinking he's manager of the season - even if Jose Mourinho reckons so himself - it's not so glamorous.

At the time of writing, Swansea sit only four points clear of the relegation zone with six games to go, on the back of a poor performance and a 1-1 draw to match it against West Brom, who are bottom of the league by some way.

Don't let the fact that literally the entire bottom half of the league has been awful this season fool you. Swansea are still nothing special and the exit from the honeymoon period is becoming obvious. Yes, the team went on that incredible run as soon as Carvalhal was hired that quite possibly saved their season, but that is definitely drifting off.

No win in four matches, draws to both Huddersfield and West Brom - yes it could be worse, but these signs don't point to the Portuguese boss earning the title of messiah that everyone seems to think he fits.

The bottom line is, much like last year, the last few weeks of the season will be squeaky bum time. Of course, that's a much more preferable situation than relegation is, but there is a large amount of wool being pulled over a lot of people's eyes at the moment.

Now, this is by no means an 'anti-Carvalhal' article. There are many positives to his staying on - the attacking prowess that he brings to a team that lacked any form of creativity for much of the season is hugely promising, and if he does stay on and sign the players that he wants, there is no reason why he can't be a massive success for the long term.

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Once Carvalhal has his own team he could be absolutely brilliant; but the same was said for Clement.

Swansea do have to sign a long term manager eventually - and taking risks is what this club has done so very well over the last decade in order to be successful. Being cautious and hiring someone like Roy Hodgson and Sam Allardyce is boring, and there don't seem to be any candidates better placed than the current man at the helm.

Carvalhal probably should be given a chance at building a bit of a legacy in Swansea, but erring on the side of caution would be a wise decision.