Russell Martin is hopeful that Jamie Paterson will sign an improved contract with Swansea City in the near future.
The attacker excelled in the opening half of his debut campaign in south Wales but missed several games after Christmas owing to a contract dispute with the club's owners ( you can read the player's explanation of the situation here). Paterson had expected to be handed an improved package as a result of his impressive performances, although the one-year extension option in his contract was triggered on the same terms as his original deal.
Queens Park Rangers were among the clubs to show an interest in signing the 30-year-old during the January transfer window, although he has since returned to action with the Swans after rival clubs failed to meet his valuation in the winter window. Now, head coach Martin expects the playmaker - whose existing deal runs through until the summer of 2023 - to sign a new contract with the club in the coming months.
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“That’s already been discussed," the Swansea boss said. "I would hope that will get sorted fairly quickly after the end of the season. He definitely deserves something [for] the way he has been, especially the way he has come back after that break.
“If we are going to be a proper club, we need to look after people who do really well for us, hence Naughts [Kyle Naughton] staying. Hopefully Pato will be one of the next in line to make sure he commits here as well.”
It comes after Kyle Naughton agreed terms to extend his stay with Swansea by an additional year. The Swans remain eager to sign Fulham loanee Cyrus Christie on a permanent deal in the summer while they are expected to make a number of other moves in the summer transfer market.
Swansea are also exploring the option of signing Hannes Wolf on a season-long loan deal from Borussia Mönchengladbach. The 23-year-old has impressed since joining from the German outfit in January, although his current stint with the Swans comes to an end following the conclusion of the 2021/22 campaign.
Would you like to see Hannes Wolf stay at Swansea City next season? Have your say in the comments section here.
But Martin is keen to see the Austrian stay in Swansea beyond this season, although the 36-year-old concedes that factors around a possible deal could make a second loan for Wolf a non-starter.
“I honestly don’t know at the minute," he said. "Mark [Allen] is in conversation with loads of different agents. It’s definitely something we are going to explore and we’ll ask but there’s so much involved – his parent club, the finance, how much they paid for him. We’ll have to wait and see.
"He is loving it here and he has done great for us in two roles. He's just ended up playing there [wing-back] because he's done so well, and he's stayed there. I think it's a role that really suits him. He's at the top end of the pitch where he wants to be and he's really effective.
"He said to me, when he's played wing-back before, he hasn't enjoyed it, but this doesn't feel like wing-back to him. He can do both sides of the game because he's a brilliant pro and athletically he's outstanding. He's been really good. The only reason we got him was because of the style of play and we were able to convince him that whether he played inside or outside the shape, it would really suit him. Thankfully that's been the case."
