Despite media outlets stating ‘facts’ to the contrary Joe Allen’s Swansea City future won’t be decided by his talks with his current club Stoke City. Stoke are keen to see what they can agree upon in any deal for Joe, and like all footballers at his age he is keen to canvass interested clubs to see his worth.
And he will continue to do that until June ( which is not far away now ) as on the tenth of next month things will certainly start to become a lot clearer. It isn’t a secret that Joe wants to return to Wales where he wants to lead a more settled life as does his wife Lacey who has a huge interest in animal welfare, conservation and his family all reside in the west Wales area. It would be an ideal switch if the swans did sort a deal out.
And we know that he would come to Swansea even if the deal is less than he could get elsewhere. Of course as it stands nothing has been clarified with Joe’s representatives, and in any event he is taking more of an active role in his own decision making which means the next move for him will be his most preferred, not the most valuable.
There shouldn’t be any degree of panic that Joe Allen is exploring his options. If Swansea City want him he will be in a position already of knowing what can be offered or at least have some knowledge. Despite Russell Martin’s claims there is no room for him a the moment, time will most certainly amend that as more players leave the swans.
Talking recently Martin said "We’ve been really heavily involved in all of the planning. We’ve brought a vision of the team here and the club support us as much as they can to help us achieve that vision. We’re really clear in what we need. We’re really clear on who we want. What we’re not so clear on is the time frame. Julian Winter and Mark had loads of discussions. The decision has come that Mark is no longer here. I don’t think the club will ever make a decision that they don’t feel prepared for. Nothing has changed for us. It’s no problem. Everyone has real clarity in what we’re doing and why we’re doing it."
And if Joe Allen doesn’t sign and decides to go elsewhere so be it, it’s very much his choice, he has amassed a huge fortune playing football, a journey that Swansea City launched many years ago. The rumours of Gillingham defender and free agent Jack Tucker being of interest to the swans has a long way to go before any sense of reality can be attracted to it. Alan Nixon who tweets a lot of information at this time of the season has to get some calls right, but once again it’s more than a big call to say this is in any way accurate.
As far as we are concerned.
We have some more info coming later today.