Have Fulham given up on Grimes? Did they value him at all?

It is being widely speculated that Fulham have now given up hope on signing Swansea captain Matt Grimes and turned their attention to Watford duo Nathaniel Chalobah and Domingos Quina which could see the Swans hold onto their midfielder.

Fulham have seen multiple bids turned down from Grimes but you have to question their real desire to sign the player with the two clubs seemingly not much more than a few hundred thousand pounds apart – certainly as much as they may have to fork out to land their new targets.

That in itself tells you that part of the reason for the Swans not accepting the offer could be the player’s own reluctance over a move where regular first team football may not have been guaranteed and that the speculation that Russell Martin has sold him his Swansea ‘vision’ being as much of the reason why he is still here as much as anything.

On a day when the Swans coffers have been boosted by the sale of Connor Roberts and Jamal Lowe as well as a seven figure pay out on a sell on clause for Dan James it could be that the budgeted sale of Grimes was not as essential and that we could work to retain his services.  Had Lowe or Roberts stayed you could easily have imagined Grimes leaving as we moved budgets around to complete the deals that we are doing on the final day.

Of course there is nothing official yet that Fulham have moved on from Grimes but as we approach almost the final hour of the window then these late revelations could mean that Grimes is no longer wanted by Fulham and that could mean him still being here tomorrow morning.

And that in itself would be as good as a new signing.