Michael Laudrup has admitted that he will struggle to keep players at the Liberty Stadium if they want to leave…
Swansea’s Danish boss Michael Laudrup has admitted that he will usually let a player leave if they indicate a willingness to move on, reports BBC Sport.
Club captain Ashley Williams has been linked to Arsenal this summer, and Liverpool before they seemingly lost interest, although no bids have yet been lodged for the centre-half.
“I can control what I’m doing but of course I can’t control what others are thinking. I’ve always said if someone really wants to leave for a certain reason, then it’s very difficult to keep a player,” Laudrup admitted.
“We saw that last year with Joe [Allen] to Liverpool and Scott [Sinclair] to Man City and Danny [Graham].
“You can’t really keep players against their will if they want to leave.”
Swansea enjoyed a successful second year in the Premier League, finishing 9th, and winning the League Cup, playing a brand of football that has won them many admirers.
This summer they have already secured deals for Jernade Meade, Jonjo Shelvey, Alejandro Pozuelo, Alexandr Gogic, Jordi Amat, Jose Canas and record £12m signing Wilfried Bony.
Surprisingly, the club have not had to deal with bigger clubs enquiring about Michu, who starred for Swansea last term, scoring 18 Premier League goals from an attacking midfield position.
Laudrup is worried though that bids may be on the horizon, but is adamant that he is not willing to do business too close to the end of August as that won’t give his club time to find adequate replacements.
“It has to be reasonable in the sense that it needs to give us time to find a replacement. So you can’t come on the 30 August and say ‘I’m leaving’ or ‘we want to buy this and that player’ because then it won’t be possible,” Laudrup added.
“I can’t tell you exactly what date is the deadline if someone wants some of our players.
“But it’s definitely not the 25th, the 27th, the 29th or 31st [of August].”
Swansea were forced into selling striker Danny Graham on the last day of the January transfer window, and Laudrup clearly wants to avoid this happening again.
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