SWANS: Scotland World Cup striker Ross Stewart signs three-year deal

Swansea City have signed Scotland striker Ross Stewart, handing the World Cup forward a three-year deal on a free transfer.

The 30-year-old takes the number 31 shirt and gives head coach Vitor Matos a proven Championship goalscorer to lead the line.

“I’m absolutely delighted to be here,” Stewart said. “It’s been a long couple of days, getting down here and getting everything sorted, but that’s all done now. I’m just very excited for the football ahead.”

Stewart said he knew of the Swans’ interest early, and that conversations with the club’s recruitment team, sporting director Ben Stevens and the head coach settled it. “They just sold it to me,” he said. “They were certainly the team that made the biggest impression on me and tried to get me to sign.”

His record is the reason they chased him. At Sunderland he scored 40 goals in 81 games, winning the EFL Trophy at Wembley and firing the Black Cats to promotion from League One.

Southampton took him to the south coast in 2023 and went up to the Premier League that season. Last term he hit 11 goals, eight of them in a 16-game surge that carried Saints into the play-offs and an FA Cup semi-final.

That form won him a place in Scotland’s World Cup squad this summer, where he came off the bench against Morocco to add to his four caps.

“Hopefully, I can bring a lot of goals, bring elements of build-up play and just something that gets the fans excited,” he said.

Having turned 30 a few weeks ago, he sees a leadership job too. “There’s a lot of talented young players in the group, so hopefully I can bring that kind of leadership to the boys and help point things out as the season goes on.”

‘It won’t be too long until you see me out there’

Stewart arrives short of match sharpness after his World Cup summer and post-tournament break, and will build up with the Swans’ medical and performance staff.

“I shouldn’t be too far away from games, hopefully, and it won’t be too long until you see me out there,” he said.

Injuries marked his Southampton years, and he believes they hardened him. “Coming through it, I think it’s definitely made me stronger,” he said. “One thing that I have learned from that is that the fire burns to come back and do as well as I can.”

Matos called him “an experienced and proven performer in the Championship”, saying Stewart had made clear his hunger to be “an important senior figure and leader in our dressing room”.

Stevens, the sporting director recruited from Crystal Palace this summer, said Stewart’s Championship form last season “was a standout, and it earned him a deserved place in Scotland’s World Cup squad”.

Stewart is the latest arrival in a busy window, following New Zealand World Cup star Elijah Just through the door, and was unveiled wearing the new Twin Town-inspired away shirt that went on sale last week.

His demand of the season ahead is simple. “You’ve got to be driven, and you’ve got to be hungry to go and win every game.”