Winter – Paterson never asked for a move away

Julian Winter has been a second key person to jump to the defence of Jamie Paterson this week with the Swans forward welcomed back into the first team squad this week and set to play a part, although likely to be from the bench, in this evening’s visit of Blackburn Rovers.

Russell Martin has been quick all week to express his view that there has been no issue with Paterson and Winter has backed the words of the manager in his matchday programme notes for today’s game.

Winter was keen to put to bed rumours/reports of the situation and state that Paterson has never looked to orchestrate a move away from the club nor did he ask to leave.

Winter wrote: “As everyone is aware, Jamie Paterson returned to first-team training this week after a difficult period at the club.

“There was a lot of speculation that he could have departed during the January window and while there were offers for him, these fell well below our valuation.

“It has been well documented that Jamie wasn’t in the right frame of mind to play over the past few weeks but the club has been supportive of him and his situation, and staff at the training ground have been unequivocal in their backing as well as his relationship with Russell remaining strong.

“He never once asked for a move away from the club, nor did he ever refuse to play.  There were also reports that the club had fined him – again this was never the case.

“Jamie is a Swansea City player and we look forward to having him back in the squad and doing what he does best and that’s playing football and helping us get results.”