Swansea City boss Russell Martin has stated that Ryan Bennett is one of a growing number of squad players no longer required at Swansea City. So much so even when selecting his bench for the last handful of games he hasn’t made the cut. And he has explained why.
That’s all as well, but when you review Jay Fulton’s future at Swansea which is most certainly in the same bracket as Bennett’s things look a bit confused. Fulton could easily have left the swans in January but the offers he received fell way short of his rumoured ten thousand pounds a week contract. So Jay has chosen to sit things out to at least the summer. Get some game time and take stock. And when we say to at least the summer, he has another year on his contract which would most certainly cost Swansea City another half a million pounds until it expires.
If Fulton chooses to stay and run down his contract.
In Ryan Bennett’s case he forced his move to Swansea through nearly two years ago, joining on a free contract from Wolves. He then signed a three year contract which also doesn’t expire until the end of next season. The fluctuating estimates on Bennett’s salary range from seventeen to twenty thousand pounds a week. Even at the lowest figure of seventeen thousand a week he is to earn just under nine hundred thousand pounds over a fifty two week period until 2023. That’s astonishing and when Russell Martin makes a statement regards Bennett’s future at Swansea as he did yesterday "To play this way you have to be all in. It’s difficult for some people. He got into really good form then came out of the team and struggled to find it again. In his absence the guys have accelerated their growth. There’s lots that comes into it outside of football. He’s aware of where he’s at. He trains hard and stays fit, but we’ll assess what happens this summer. That’s why he’s not on the bench and we can’t bring him on when Ben Cabango goes off against Bournemouth”
Ryan Bennett and Russell Martin, team mates at Norwich City
It’s clear Martin is questioning Bennet’s commitment to an extent with the ‘All In’ statement. Bennett’s issues clearly started around the time he was sent off against Stoke City. Martin went on regards Bennett leaving in June "I think it’s best for everyone, really. I think finances will dictate that, what options Benno has and what finance is made available to us” The issue here is another player, as well as Fulton who can easily choose to sit on his hands for another year taking in a huge amount of money tipping Swansea City’s outlay for these two players in the region of 1.3 million plus. Martin has made it clear Bennett is not anywhere his plans and it’s a real gamble to publicly speak about these matters, it places emphasis on not only him but the player as well.
Not that it bothered Jay Fulton.
Both players will most certainly receive offers this summer, but will they really match the salaries they are on at the moment ? Most certainly not, and therein is the problem. And it isn’t a good one on the financial front for Swansea City. These aren’t speculative reports of course, much the same when we broke the Joel Piroe Leicester connection last year. These are factual statements from a manager who will struggle even further if both Fulton and Bennett are still at Swansea City come the start of next season.
Nottingham Forest updates to follow