Swansea City utility player Ryan Manning has been quoted as stating he is looking to move on from the Swansea.Com stadium at the conclusion of this season in four games time. There are four championship clubs with the money to match who could easily persuade him there is a better future with them than at Swansea.

That said we have had it confirmed that there will be an attempt to secure Ryan Manning at the Swans on a new deal even though the passage of time is ticking by to do so. Two sources close to the club, one of whom has rarely been wrong in their information and support of this website have emphatically denied the chance of a deal has run out. They do admit it is more likely he will go than stay, and Ryan admits that as well.

Manager Russell Martin stated in February. “I love Ryan, he loves it here, but we’ve allowed the contract to go to the last year, or not address it properly in the summer, so we’re at where we’re at,” the head coach admitted. “I don’t think there’s any point in keeping talking about that. He’s not going to sign a contract here. He’s given us everything he’s got, which is all we can ask for. He’s got the right to go and see what’s out there for him in the summer. We’re exploring other options for that for next season already. It’s what we have to do, we have to be ready. It’ll be a real shame. The reality is now, you get past January and people think he may leave in January and you readdress the situation, but I don’t think anything’s changed from his end or his agent’s end “

The issue is of course money and the offer made to him by Swansea which Martin has described as a good offer remains on the table. However, there is going to be one more attempt to keep Ryan however slim the chances are. We have been told that he is disappointed at the lack of recognition his performances have earned him internationally whilst at Swansea. That is one factor. The other is his desire to sign a contract with at least sixty five thousand pounds a month as his basic salary. The Swans offer is believed to be well short of that.

Indeed when Andre Ayew left the club two seasons ago he too was asked to consider an offer to stay with Swansea City. What he had on the table from abroad was even more than he was earning at the Swans at the time, around eighty thousand pounds a week. And now he is featuring for Nottingham Forest in the premier league on a rumoured salary that matches his premier league days with the Swans.

The glimmer of hope may well be a very small one but the club have listened to Russell Martin and will most certainly attempt to format something that Manning may see as interesting. His next contract will take him through his stellar years as a footballer and as an earner. Manning understands the limited time he now has to ensure a bright future for his family. “That is when I started planning for retirement because you never know when this career will end. Yeah, things are going well now and you’d like to think that would last for the next five, ten years. But the reality is it could be over next week, it could be finished for you with a bad injury. When you’re younger, you can squander a lot. You get a good contract early and think money will always be like that. Then it’s gone, you’re at the end and you might be left with nothing. What then ?”

Manning continues to strive to reach the highest level he possibly can in club football and is twenty seven in June. He continues to have ambitions to establish himself on the international scene as well. “You come over as a kid or dream as a kid of playing in the Premier League, the Champions League, of course you’d give anything to play in a World Cup for Ireland. You think that is what a successful career is. 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”

There are messages in there if any were needed that Ryan feels he is on his way come the summer. The contract on offer from Swansea doesn’t appeal to a man with his family’s future to consider. His partner Charli and new baby’s security are at stake as well which means business is business. Especially when you are ready to sign the biggest contract of your career. Swansea City would be foolish not to give it one more push to see the extent of his commitment to leave, and Ryan won’t turn down the offer to talk that’s for sure. However with the season almost burned out, and Swansea City yet again in mid table that will hardly inspire him to take another risk in the hope that next season Russell Martin may well get it right.

We believe that Ryan has his mind fixed on a new club, and a new challenge elsewhere away from Swansea. He has full knowledge of what is on offer and the Swans will have to make him one of the highest paid players at the club to get his interest. And then there’s his commitment to risk another season or two in his prime. For us that means he will most certainly go with only the slightest of chances he will change his mind.

Photographs licensed from Reuters

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