Daniel James will return to Swansea City on Monday morning to find three players and a chairman have all left since he himself thought he had departed the club on Thursday afternoon when he arrived at Leeds.
The Wales winger was left out of the team that lost 2-0 at Bristol City on Saturday – a defeat that was overshadowed by the decision of Huw Jenkins to stand down a few hours later.
Jenkins’ statement gave the clear impression he had grown disillusioned with the fire sale begun last summer by the club’s American owners and ramped up again on transfer deadline day when Wilfried Bony, Tom Carroll and Jefferson Montero all left.
The proposed sale of James to Leeds United may have been one log too many thrown onto the bonfire for Jenkins’ liking – although the club’s own counter-statement implied they had sacked their own chairman because of his “extremely disappointing” overseeing of their recent recruitment strategy.
Whatever happened between the owners and the man who sold the club to them, the parting of the ways was not amicable and reflects the increasing chaos a club once lauded for stability has descended into.
The fear for Swansea fans must be that Oli McBurnie, Connor Roberts, Joe Rodon and Bersant Celina will all now join James in trying to leave the club at the end of the season.
Current or even recently signed contracts in place for any of them are unlikely to deter Swansea from deciding to cash in on any offers, given their willingness to offload James until the final hours of the deadline.
As well as the prospect of more player departures, there must also be the strong possibility that Graham Potter – a young manager with a hard-earned reputation when he left Sweden last season – may conclude that his status as promising managerial material is only being harmed by remaining at the Liberty Stadium.
Potter has two years left on his contract, only slightly more than that remaining on James’ deal which has yet to be renegotiated by the club.
James’s agent has claimed that Swansea could not get rid of his client quickly enough once there was some money on the table, but Potter has insisted that bridges can be rebuilt – at least for the remainder of this season.
“He just needed the weekend to clear his head, and he will come back in on Monday and be ready to help the team,” claimed Potter.
“It is one of those situations in football. Dan is a young guy, a fantastic boy and I understand he has been through a tough period.
“So we have to be patient with him, and then he is ready to help on Monday.”
Following defeat at Ashton Gate, the Swans are now back in the bottom half of the table – six points adrift of the play-offs, 16 points distant of the automatic promotion places and 16 above the relegation zone with 16 matches still to play.