Phil Sumbler
Russell Martin says that there has been interest in both Michael Obafemi and Jamie Paterson as both seem to be moving closer towards an exit from the Swansea.com stadium.
The two players are currently out of favour in SA1 although there is very much a mixed belief as to whether they can play for the club again.ย ย Martin has been very coy on that part but, in fairness, he has to be as shutting the door totally now would mean a difficult position if the two players were still to be with us beyond the closure of the transfer window.
With our transfer activity over the next three and a bit weeks still a little bit on the unknown front the Swans boss simply has to keep his options open and there would still be every chance right now that either player could still have a Swansea City registration come February.
It has to be said though that it seems a little unlikely atย the moment and Martin says that there is interest in the players although clearly no concrete approaches or bids have yet been made at this relatively early stage of the transfer window.
“There’s lots of interest, as there would be, in him (Obafemi) and Pato [Paterson],” Swansea boss Martin told the BBC.
“They are both players who have shown, last season particularly, that they can be effective performers at this level.
“We stay in touch, we talk about it. I had a really good chat with Michael on Tuesday. He is in a good place – we are just waiting to see what happens.”
Obafemi has yet to feature for the Swans since we returned from the World Cup break.ย ย Both players were deemed to be ready to take a part a week or so back when the Swans were playing Watford but both were left out and, again, depending what you choose to believe there could be a host of reasons behind why that happened.
“For both of them the door is not shut here but whilst everything’s going on, we will just have to wait and see how it affects them and how it affects the group,” added Martin.
“We are prepared for anything. If at some point an offer comes in that either player likes and we like, and it helps us do the things we feel we really need to do, we’ll see.
“At the moment they are here, training hard and trying to force their way back into our plans as quickly as possible.”
Both remain available for today’s trip to Bristol City but it seems doubtful that either will feature – even with the Swans able to name nine substitutes – and it remains clear that there is more wheeling and dealing to be done at the club before January ends.
“There is stuff going on, discussions going on. Hopefully all the work will reap some rewards at some point,” concluded Martin.
