Knight/KOL Out On Loan

Kristian O’Leary and Leon Knight are both contemplating weekend matches for different clubs as they left the Liberty Stadium on loan before today’s 5pm deadline.

O’Leary has joined fellow League One club Cheltenham on a months loan and he will make his debut tomorrow night against Brentford. O’Leary is currently in his testimonial season at Swansea and Cheltenham are already thinking about the possibility of a longer spell if things go well

“It was a very difficult decision for me,” explained O’Leary to the official site. “It’s going to be strange playing somewhere else after 11 years as a senior pro with Swansea. It’s all I’ve known.

“But Kenny (Jackett) offered me the chance to get a string of games under my belt and for pure footballing reasons I felt it was the best thing for me to do at the moment.

“I’ve had a frustrating 18 months with injuries and non-selection and I haven’t played as regularly as I would have wanted, especially as it’s my testimonial year.

“My heart is and always will be at Swansea, especially as the fans have always been brilliant with me.

“It’s still my intension to wear the Swans shirt again with pride. Once I’ve got a few first team games under my belt at Cheltenham I aim to return and force my way back into the side on a regular basis.”

Meanwhile, Leon Knight, out of favour for a month has joined Championship side Barnsley and will make his debut on Saturday at home to Ipswich. Knight was dropped from the side in mid October and immediately transfer listed amongst a host of rumours of what went wrong. The striker, who joined in January, has always maintained that he has not stepped out of line but Jackett has been adamant he had no future here and will now hope that his spell in the shop window may see a move somewhere become a reality in January Knight said: “I am excited about the move. I have played up north a couple of times in my career and things have worked out well so hopefully I can get some goals for Barnsley.

“I have spoken with the people at Oakwell and they are talking about good things.