Swansea City are set to sign 21-year-old striker Courtney Baker-Richardson, but are still no closer to agreeing the sale of Gylfi Sigurdsson to Everton.
Baker-Richardson is one for the future – a former Coventry City youngster picked up from National League Leamington who scored 17 goals last season.
But the picture for the better known “Son” – Sigurdsson –remains shrouded in uncertainty after manager Paul Clement admitted the Swans and Everton remain at odds over the player’s valuation.
Swansea want £50m for the Icelandic midfielder and any shortfall from that figure is worth haggling for, insists Clement, even though the club’s Premier League campaign kicks off on Saturday.
Clement said: “There is no deal done with any club, talks are ongoing. I speak to our chairman and owners every day but there is no current conclusion to that situation.
“What is going on is not abnormal, a lot of situations like this take place and are happening at other clubs.
“When you have a player who is contracted for three more years and there are other clubs interested in a very good player – and that has happened here before – we have a valuation of the player as do the other club and at the moment they have not met but at some point the objective is they will be met.
“There likely needs to be a compromise on both sides and that is normally how a deal is made.
We are at a critical stage of this situation and hope it’s going to be resolved very quickly.
“You have to remember we are Swansea City, we are not a top four club that has massive revenue in relation to what those top clubs are getting.
“We have to be sensible with the economics of it.
“It also makes a point for the future as well. We don’t want to sell our best players and if we are going to sell them, we have to maximise our revenue for them so we can build for the future.
“But we have a number of weeks to go (in terms of incomings), and I don’t anticipate it (Sigurdsson) going to the end of the window.
“I hope it will be resolved quickly, that would be best for everyone, maybe it will happen when we don’t expect it. But the main point is it has not changed my focus on working with the players, including Gylfi, they have all been focused and worked hard and we are in good shape.”
Everton manager Ronald Koeman insists his club remain close to signing Sigurdsson and talks with Swansea have not broken down.
As expected Clement has left Sigurdsson out of his squad to face Southampton at St. Mary’s this weekend and Koeman is hopeful the transfer will be wrapped up soon.
“I heard some rumours it has broke down,” Koeman said at his pre-match press conference ahead of facing Stoke on Saturday.
“That is not the case, we are still in negotiations. It is always a game between the selling club and buying club, but we are close and let’s hope we get an agreement as soon as possible.
“Soon is okay, I spoke about really soon and it was last weekend. Let’s wait. Let’s see. We are not in a hurry.”
Swans Striker Fernando Llorente will miss the season-opener after breaking an arm during a holiday and although he will return to training next week, he is unlikely to be fit for the first home game against Manchester United on 19 August.”
