Martin – “I don’t think there is a gap for Joe Allen”

Russell Martin has played down the chances of the Swans signing Stoke City midfielder Joe Allen by stating that he does not think there is currently a gap in the squad for their former midfielder.

It is easy to see where Martin is coming from with midfield being one of the positions in the team where the Swans have plenty of options although we are known to be wanting to move on Jay Fulton together with potential transfer interest in Flynn Downes expected to surface this summer.

Martin admitted earlier in the month that he may be interested in bringing Allen back to South Wales and he refused to totally rule out a potential move although he suggested that it may have to be later in the window and the Swans would need to keep Allen ‘interested’ in the move until room became available.

Allen is out of contract this summer at Stoke although they are keen to offer him a new deal to stay there but it has been suggested in multiple places that Allen is keen to return back to Wales for the final years of his career.

“I don’t think there’s a gap in the squad for Joe Allen,” Martin told the BBC. “There may be a gap in the squad [in the future] and he is one person who we would definitely be interested in to fill it.

“But at the moment I think it would be a difficult one. It’s whether we can interest Joe enough to wait.

“There are going to be lots of interest and I will just be one of a number of managers who will be interested. So much in football is timing and opportunity.”

Martin’s words are clear that any move for Allen will be determined by others moving on from SA1.  That will include Jay Fulton and could also include any move for key midfielders within his squad where the Swans decide that the funds raised from sales can be used elsewhere.

However, as we have seen before with Allen and Swansea, he will not be sat back waiting for the Swans to make a move so him appearing in a Swans shirt next season feels and looks very remote at this point in time.

Simply put as it stands now the Swans do not need reinforcements in midfield although it is likely that that could change during the course of the summer as Martin himself said.  Allen will want to resolve his future relatively early during the summer months you would assume and that could lead to the door closing before the Swans have had chance to prise it open.