From the Times:
Swansea stick to guns and reject player-plus-cash deal for Joe Allen
Swansea City have indicated that they will not accept a knockdown fee for Joe Allen or any makeweights from Liverpool after they turned down a player-plus-cash deal for the Wales midfield player.
Liverpool had been willing to pay Swansea in the region of £10 million and allow a squad player, believed to be Jonjo Shelvey, to move to the Liberty Stadium on loan for next season, but the offer was rejected by Huw Jenkins, the Swansea chairman.
Swansea’s valuation of Allen stands at £15 million, in keeping with an exit clause that was inserted in the four-year contract signed by the 22-year-old last summer.
Although Allen has not asked to leave Swansea, his present club recognise the attraction of a potential move to Merseyside, where the midfield player would be reunited with Brendan Rodgers, the new Liverpool manager who arrived at Anfield from the South Wales club last month.
Jenkins, though, is adamant that the full valuation must be met before he considers sanctioning the departure of Swansea’s most prized asset.
Tottenham Hotspur are also interested in Allen, who is in the Great Britain Olympic squad, and could make a move should Luka Modric finally complete a transfer to Real Madrid. But Liverpool remain favourites to capture Allen’s signature.
The complication for Liverpool is Rodgers’s agreement with Swansea not to return to his former club to try to sign any of their players for the next 12 months. It is understood, however, that the accord can be dropped at Swansea’s request if a deal suits them, meaning that it is up to Liverpool to make an offer for Allen that is too good to be turned down.
So now hopefully we move on. £10M + the use of Shelvey for a season (though that benefits us just as much) is more than a good offer for a player with a solitary season in the PL.
Moussa Sissoko would cost about the same and would be a better buy having played in Ligue 1 since his debut in the 2007-08 season.
