Swansea City can offer no information regards out of contract discussions, especially those regarding Ryan Manning and Joel Latibeaudiere. There are a number of other players who will be reaching their end of contracts at the conclusion of next season but Matt Gill couldn’t update the press today on the progress of any discussions.

Ryan Manning has pretty much left his situation open but has indicated his future may well be elsewhere. Surprisingly just before Manning joined Swansea, West Ham were cited as interested in a five million pound move for the player. He joined the Swans for around £275,000 which really should knock the West Ham rumour in to touch. He views his next contract as the one which will ensure his families stability in the future, and Swansea City’s offer of around eleven thousand pounds a week hasn’t been accepted. Speaking to the ‘42’ recently he left some people guessing. “I love it here to be honest, it feels a lot like back home. It’s a nice way of life. Everyone said when I first arrived at Swansea I’d have a dog within three months, then after that it would be babies. I was like ‘no way’. But sure enough. Dogs and babies, that’s what it’s all about here. The club and the area does have a nice feel about it. You have the make most of it when things are going well for you and make sure you can be set up financially for when you might be out of favour, when you might be out of contract and things aren’t going well. You have to be able to prepare for that as best you can while times are good. That’s the business, how the game works”

Overall Ryan is having a very decent season, comparisons to Jake Bidwell who left the Swans last year thihgh are wide of the mark. Manning is a far more influential player, his goal scoring is better and through his wing back and at times midfield position he can turn games and put pressure on the opposition defence.

The real clue for anyone thinking that Manning is holding out for a big Swansea deal came about when he said, “But once you get into it and see the game within you realise that’s the minority of the minority who make it. Success is a lot more. Can you earn a living from the game ? That is a success. Can you earn money to set your family up for the rest of their life ? That would be a success because a successful career is a lot more than what you do on the pitch” Rumours of him wanting at least another five thousand pounds a week would more than likely rule the Swans out in the race to secure him for another three years.

However, expenditure by the club this year hasn’t enthused the majority of the clubs support.

Swans fans of course would like to see Joel Piroe offered a new deal that is commensurate with his value to the club and of course what he offers in return. Again, to achieve that Piroe would have to become one, if not the highest earner at Swansea City. The big question there is does he see his future at the club ? Surely with the way this season is going he doesn’t ?

The fortunate thing for Swansea is that Russell Martin has managed these out of contract players well. He has had no disciplinary issues and in return they are committed one hundred percent to ending this season positively. We have seen the likes of Michael Obafemi and Jamie Paterson do exactly the opposite.

In Joel Latibeaudiere’s case any new contract is far simpler to solve. Russell Martin seems to admire the player not least for his work rate and desire to improve himself, and he isn’t really on any other club radar that we are aware of. We will leave the final word to Matt Gill on the inaction as it stands on these and other Swansea City contracts. “ Well, the summer window is totally different, that will look after itself. I’m sure Josh ( Marsh ) and Julian ( Winter ) are trying hard to tie stuff down, to tie players down, but at the moment I think you will see lads concentrating on doing their best they possibly they can for the team. That’s all we ask of the lads who are out of contract really” So, no news there as the club continues to play chess with offers of new contracts which is a dangerous game when no new player investment of any sort has been made since the summer.

With tomorrows game now being seen as exceptionally important for the coaching staff after only two wins in sixteen games this recent poor Swansea run shouldn’t be seen as an excuse for no negotiations on player contracts off the pitch.

Photographs licensed from Reuters

Badlands added 14:23 - Feb 14 2 wins in 16 games … and no pressure on the coaching staff it seems!
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