“He’s Not Into The Glitz And The Glamour”

West Ham were one of a host of teams who were interested in signing Ayew this summer, a host of teams that also included Roma and Atletico Madrid which shows you just the stature of a club like the Swans these days that we can compete – and beat – with such big names from the continent.

Ayew has made the dream start to his Swansea career with two goals in his opening two games and is turning into a Swansea favourite already and has to make those he turned down look on green with envy.

Monk has re-iterated why he chose Swansea and stated how down to earth Ayew is and it is not about the ‘celebrity’ aspect of the modern day professional footballer for Ayew but it is football reasons when he makes his decisions

“It was refreshing when I spoke to him to hear his views on the game because he was very much football-orientated – he’s not into the glitz and the glamour and the money side of it,” said Monk. “You don’t get a lot of that now when you pick up a paper. It’s normally all about the money.

“The Premier League was obviously a big attraction and, when I spoke to him, he liked the way I was approaching things and he wanted to be part of things.

“It was refreshing because there were a lot of big teams around Europe who were offering him a lot more than we were – but it was never about money for him.

“He liked our approach – how we were doing things and moving forward. He felt this was the right club at this stage of his career.

“We try and check all the characters we bring into the club – their personality, their home life and everything. The key for me is when I speak to the player. I think I’ve always been quite a good judge of character. It’s the feeling you get when you speak to someone – whether they are genuine or not, do they actually know what they are talking about, or is it sugar-coated to pull the wool over your eyes?

“There was a good feeling with Andre and he’s proven that in the way he is with the group. I think he gets that grounding from his family. You could tell that from the way he spoke. I hadn’t heard that for a long time. When I brought him in I knew he would be the right character and now he’s hopefully able to produce his best football. He’s had a good start.

“Even though he’s still young, he’s a very experienced international and he passes that knowledge onto the group, which is great. All in all, he’s played an important part in our pre-season and I’m sure he will throughout the season.”

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