Swans turn down £2.5m bid for Grimes but captain looks set to leave?

Reports last night surfaced that the Swans have turned down a bid – reported to be in the region of £2.5m – for Captain Matt Grimes from Fulham but it is now anticipated that a further bid could yet transpire from West London.

The side relegated from the Premier League last season have long since been linked with wanting Grimes to be part of the squad they hope will be good enough to return to the top flight at the first opportunity.

With the transfer window now having less than 48 hours to remain open there is much work to be done everywhere within the divisions and it is expected that the next couple of days will see departures and arrivals at the Swans as Russell Martin looks to assemble a squad that he hopes can play the way he desires in the coming season.

The departure of Grimes was always one that was budgeted for this summer.  As the Swans come to terms with the loss of their final parachute payments and the impact of playing a season of games behind closed doors balancing the books was always a challenge and losing Grimes was part of helping that process along.

The captain is in the final year of his contract and seemingly surplus to requirements at Swansea particularly with two new midfielders having arrived already this summer.

Stuart James at the Athletic reports that Fulham have now made two offers for Grimes and that ‘realistically there is no prospect of Grimes signing a new deal at Swansea’ which can only lead to a conclusion that he will leave the club within the next 48 hours as there is little prospect of the Swans risking losing him for a free at the end of the season.

Fulham appear to be the only interested party despite reports to the contrary all summer so right now you would place them in the driving seat and whilst a £2.5m deal may currently be at the rejected stage nobody here would be surprised to see that deal eventually prise Grimes away as we know that in any negotiation our key management are known to always blink first (see Joe Rodon last summer as the classic example)

The danger is that we wait too long to allow any significant – and necessary – dealings to take place which are desperately required to strengthen the squad that is looking increasingly weak in many places.

Our long summer of disarray continues.