Sources close to Swansea City have confirmed that Julian Winter will almost certainly be looking to cash in on what he can in January regards the sale of Swansea City’s captain. By then Matt Grimes will have only six months left on his contract.

As we know opportunities to sell a player don’t just occur on January 1st, a lot of ground work is put in prior to any player joining or leaving a football club. Russell Martin confirmed this on the weekend when he spoke about his ‘tireless efforts ‘ along with Mark Allen to secure players for January already. To that end we do know the same applies to Matt Grimes. Winter is ‘extremely’ open to discussions with interested parties, and hopefully on this occasion the issues we saw with Fulham in the summer won’t be repeated.

Marco Silva came in to Fulham when many felt it was going to be Steve Cooper just prior to the season starting. Along with Matt Grimes the two clubs had already spoken about Grimes moving to Fulham with Cooper, and a ‘form’ of agreement had been made, we understand. Then the cost, and of course the appointment of Silva scuppered any chance of Grimes moving. So Swansea City, for us, having acted appropriately were left holding the baby as such.

Russell Martin has his eye on four players that he would like to recruit in January. Again, as we all know, all four are hardly likely to occur, but you have to get your ducks lined up or come January 1st your fiddling around, and the baby the swans have been left holding gets dropped. Grimes is extremely likely to go is our opinion, we have spoken to numerous people, and all are in agreement. Grimes is now in a prime position, if he doesn’t go in January, and then goes in June he collects a handsome signing on fee as well. In fact it will be huge. It won’t be what the swans could capture if they get a fee in January, but you can almost certainly half the million pounds the swans will want in the next transfer window. This of course dramatically impacts on what Grimes will receive too.

Numerous people will say they don’t know what a player is on, in fact nobody does. That’s not exactly true, over many years contacts, agents, friends and alliances are built up through trust and a joint objective, securing the truth. That’s what good writers, authors and journalists rely upon. The facts do sometimes come out. From that and by corroborating other information we can make a fairly assured assessment on what to report. We did that when Steve Cooper met with Julian Winter the Wednesday after last seasons play off final. The assessment of the sources at the time, corroborated by what we knew already, and were being told elsewhere pointed to a critical crossroads in Coopers time at Swansea. Two days later we were clear, he was leaving. For five weeks there was doubt and hostility, the truth sometimes hurts.

It’s not as if there isn’t documented proof of this, reported on this very website.

In Grimes case it’s far more simple. The business case for him to stay at Swansea isn’t there. That’s long gone. Even if Swansea City offered him a new contract it wouldn’t meet with his approval. It wouldn’t be enough set against what he could get elsewhere, even in the Championship, where we think will still be his best offer. It’s now a simple case of making a few pragmatic and fairly clear decisions. One of Winter’s key qualities, despite some ill informed opinion is his ability to succession plan and see things transparently as they are. Not as certain people want them to be. Winter holds the keys, he opens the door and he locks the door. His future credibility will be based on what he does today for the greater good tomorrow, not on what people think or want him to do.

That’s why concerted effort now is being made with Grimes agents and Swansea City working in conjunction to test the market for January. That’s the practical and pragmatic view. And it’s a view that is now in operation. Think about it. With a slightly hazy explanation as to what certain roles are within recruiting and recruiting policy at the swans, the final hammer will strike after a two way conversation between Winter and Allen. Who, or what they speak about with certain others before that is merely an evidence gathering exercise for them to make final decisions upon.

Where Grimes goes won’t matter to Swansea City, and to an extent if the club is on a par with the swans, or more credible as a possible move Winter will be keen to see it through. It is nowhere near a desperate time, but if Grimes is still at Swansea City in February the choices narrow. And that’s why Matt Grimes, in our opinion has to leave Swansea City in January, and more importantly the informed sources we have spoken to think so as well.

Photographs licensed from Reuters

ReslovenSwan1 added 14:12 - Oct 5 Swansea had the option of the approach Cooper took to Asoro. He was told clearly "You will not again feature for Swansea city under me. Find yourself a new club". It worked for Asoro. Grimes notionally knowing he had played his last game for Swansea would be forced to accept any deal anywhere else to save his career. Hard ball is the only way.
0

Swansea City Polls