Phil SumblerSwansea captain Matt Grimes is surely moving closer to an extended Swansea stay with Russell Martin again reiterating his desire to keep Grimes at Swansea and the club working on a contract extension to make that happen.
After a summer of speculation where it was reported that ‘Swansea want him to leave’ it appears that the reporting may be quite some distance from the truth with Grimes himself having confided in those close to him this summer that he would love to stay at the club.
Newcastle, Southampton and, more recently, Fulham have all been linked with a move for Grimes with the latter allegedly having a fee agreed before the change of management at the newly named Swansea.com Stadium taking place.
Russell Martin is just the kind of manager under which Grimes could flourish and him staying will be akin to Leon Britton returning to Swansea so soon after the departure of Paulo Sousa.
Martin was full of praise for his captain after last night’s 0-0 draw with Sheffield United and the Swans head coach told Sky Sportsย “I thought he was outstanding – he was one of the players who got more energetic as the game went on, takes real responsibility, really brave.
“We’re working hard to try to keep him. You can see what a talented player he is but also I think he’ll really enjoy playing the way we want him to play.
“Tonight I think he got better and better and he just enables other people, he does so much off the ball as well, which people won’t notice but it’s incredible what he does for the team.
“I really hope we can keep him.”
Keeping Grimes in the centre of our midfield will be as good as the addition of both Flynn Downes and Liam Walsh that all of a sudden presents us with many midfield options that simply weren’t there under Cooper.
With Ethan Laird also set to complete his move over the next 24-48 hours then it could prove to be a good few days ahead for Russell Martin as he looks to build his Swansea City squad.
