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Wales Online
Wales Online
Sport
Ian Mitchelmore

Russell Martin's definitive transfer message as Swansea City boss provides double injury update

Russell Martin admits he does not expect Swansea City to make any signings prior to Saturday's Championship opener at Rotherham United.

The Swans have already brought in Harry Darling, Matty Sorinola, Joe Allen and Nathan Wood this summer but are eager to further add to their squad. However, they are determined to offload more fringe players in a bid to free up funds and squad places before pursuing other targets.

Following their 2-1 pre-season win at Charlton Athletic on Saturday, Martin admitted he expects it to be a quiet week on the transfer front at Fairwood ahead of the trip to Yorkshire.

Read more: Piroe and Manning strike as Swansea men sign off pre-season with victory over Charlton Athletic

"Being honest, I don't think so at the moment," he said when asked if further additions are likely before next weekend. "We have a huge squad. We have 27 players training at the moment. We need one or two players in certain positions, I think it's really obvious, but I think we'll have to wait financially for people to exit the building first.

"It's not as simple as Flynn [Downes] going. We've been really supported so far with Matty [Sorinola], Harry [Darling], Nathan [Wood] and Joe [Allen]. It's never quite as simple as Flynn going and someone coming in.

"We're at a place where there are a lot of players at the club and a lot of players we need to really assess if they're going to help us week in, week out or if they're better off playing elsewhere, whether that's permanent or on loan."

Ben Cabango and Joe Allen both missed the win at Charlton as they continue to step up their recoveries from ankle and hamstring issues respectively. However, Cabango did feature for the club's Under-21s side on Saturday in a behind-closed-doors fixture against Brentford B.

Head coach Martin has revealed Cabango will be in the squad at Rotherham, although Swansea will make a late call on the availability of midfielder Allen. "Ben Cabango played 60 minutes for the Under-21s against Brentford B today," said the head coach. "We thought about bringing him here [Charlton] to get a few minutes because he wasn't ready to play the full 90, so it's that or getting 60 minutes with the Under-21s.

"He played with a few other guys there - Brandon Cooper, Jordon Garrick - so I think it'll be really good for him. He'll be involved next week. I don't know in what capacity yet.

"Joe, as we said all along, he's a little bit behind Ben. He's been training with the group. We just have to make a decision on when is the right time for him to join in properly and be involved in the matchday squad.

"It's a long season, he played a lot of football last season. We were really keen to get him back involved, he's looked great in training. But we don't want to risk anything, rush him back and then lose him. We want him to be fit for as many games as possible. We'll have a decision to make on Joe this week, whether he's involved next weekend or not and how we build up his minutes."

Kick-off against Rotherham is at 3pm on Saturday, July 30.

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