By Paul Jones
New Swansea City head coach Russell Martin insists he is hopeful captain Matt Grimes will remain at the club.
Grimes was expected to join the raft of other players who have moved on since the end of last season and has been linked with Premier League Brighton and Watford as well as the Swans’ Championship rivals, Fulham.
Bournemouth are also understood to have re-activated their interest in the player in the past few days.
But as yet, with the transfer window moving towards a close in a couple of weeks, no firm moves have been made for the 26-year-old and Martin – who has only been in the job a fortnight – is optimistic he can persuade Grimes to stay.
“With Grimesy, we want him to stay, we would like him to stay. He is our player, he is our captain and that won’t change,” said Martin.
“He will be involved on Saturday and, I think behind the scenes, there have been conversations about how we can make that happen.
“We have to wait and see on that, I am sure over the next couple of weeks I will keep being asked about this. But all I can tell you is we would like him to stay. No-one is in any rush to make him leave the club so we will see how it pans out.
“But we want to retain our good players and he is certainly one of them.
Grimes has captained the Swans in each of the last two seasons and led the side against Blackburn and Reading in the past week.
He expected to do the same at home to Sheffield United on Saturday night as he starts his home campaign in his seventh full season at the Liberty Stadium.
Martin added: “He is the ultimate pro, a brilliant captain in how he conducts himself and how he plays on the training pitch and on the pitch, and he loves it here.
“I have had a few conversations with him about it. He is settled here with his partner, he loves the area, has been at the club a long time and he has a great relationship with the fans.
“He is aware of what he has got here, and that is important.”
If Grimes does stay, then his retention will significantly strengthen Martin’s midfield options, even though he has already signed former Bristol City man Jamie Paterson as well as 22-year-old Flynn Downes who joined for £1m from Ipswich.
Paterson made his debut in the 2-1 defeat at Blackburn Rovers last week but Martin is yet to confirm whether Downes will do the same against the Blades.
Korey Smith will not be fit for Saturday after suffering a calf injury against Rovers, while Liam Walsh is also out with a hamstring problem.
Martin added: “Flynn had a good pre-season. He’s played a few games and feels fit.
“He had four or five days off before coming in here so he hasn’t done a huge amount, but he’s trained in the last few days.
“Flynn is a player we had a look at in my previous club and unfortunately we were priced out of the market.
“So, when we came here, we realised the board and owners here were willing to back us on Flynn, which was great.
“We are really grateful for that, and they understand what a good signing he can be, not just in the short term but the long term.
“Flynn is young, hungry, athletic, an excellent player. He felt he needed a fresh start, he has played in the league before at a very young age and he ticks all the boxes for us really.
“He really adds to the group in terms of his character and what he will bring on the pitch.”
Swansea City’s Bidwell pointing at the scoreboard after a Reading fan throws the ball away is the type of shithousery we like to see. pic.twitter.com/CWUH2KWJDz
— Football Shithousery (@FootyRustling) August 12, 2021
Having followed up last Saturday’s opening league defeat with an encouraging 3-0 win at Reading in the Carabao Cup, Martin is confident his new squad are adapting to his methods and the style of play he wants them to adopt.
“Hopefully we’ll keep getting better. I’ve been so impressed with their willingness to listen and to adapt.
“It gives us the most positivity and hope that we can take them to where we want to get to, the fact that they’re so open to trying things.
“They’ve had enough evidence on the pitch that they can really enjoy themselves, come out of a game feeling really positive.
“But we have a long road ahead and it’s a steep learning curve because we haven’t had much time. We need to try and maximise every bit of time we have the players.”
