These are your Swansea City headlines on Sunday, January 15.
Blackburn enter Gelhardt race
The Sun report Blackburn Rovers are keen to bring in Joe Gelhardt from Leeds United.
Swansea and former club Wigan have been credited with loan interest in the young attacker who is struggling to nail down game-time at Elland Road.
The national publication state he could be allowed to leave the club following their FA Cup replay against Cardiff City in midweek and the guarantee of minutes is likely to be key in any deal.
Rovers and Swansea would be able to offer a higher level of football than the Latics but the bottom-placed Championship side hold an emotional pull over the 20-year-old, who started his career at the DW Stadium.
Remaining in the north is also said to be a factor, thus putting Swansea at a disadvantage over their competitors.
Oba deal closer
Sticking with the Sun, the deal to take Michael Obafemi to Burnley is edging closer.
The striker is expected to leave Swansea this window, with head coach Russell Martin confirming they had already rejected two bids for the former Southampton man, believed to have been from the Clarets.
He said on Thursday: "We've had bids for two of our players in Michael and Morgan (Whittaker). We've knocked two bids back for Michael. One for Morgan.
"That's where we're at. But we made the bid for the player we are interested in before those bids came in. It's all about seeing which one lands first, whether we land our one first or someone leaves here first.
"Then again, none of it might happen. It's January. I just can't give you any clarity on it at the moment."
The sticking point is the fee, with the Sun reporting the Turf Moor outfit have offered £2.5million with Swansea demanding £3million.
Swansea don't need to sell to buy themselves but the financial message to Burnley has been clear.
"There are players who will want to move on, but it has to be right for the club," said Martin.
"I don't think anyone's being forced into selling anyone on the cheap. If the offers don't hit something that is satisfactory for the owners here then they'll still be our players. It's as simple as that."
He went on to add: "I'm pretty sure the club that are interested in him (Obafemi) can pay him more money than we can. We'll just have to wait and see."
Robins plays straight bat on Pato
Coventry City manager Mark Robins played a straight bat when asked about the Sky Blues' interest in Jamie Paterson on Saturday.
The attacking midfielder is widely expected to leave south Wales this month after falling out of favour. In truth Paterson's form hasn't recovered since his contract dispute with the club last winter, and along with striker Obafemi, he is set to leave SA1 for a new challenge.
Coventry are admirers of the former Bristol City man, who hails from the area. He was left out of Swansea's travelling party to Sunderland this weekend and Robins' side are keen on signing him, WalesOnline understands.
"Nothing's changed on anything since we last spoke," said Martin after the win over Sunderland on Saturday.
"Mark [Robins] and Adi [Viveash] are two people we respect hugely and know really well. We haven't spoken to either of them and I think they would have been in conversation at some point. That's that really."
Paterson was told by the club's coaching staff that he could leave this month, and he is now likely to join hometown club Coventry.
Robins, though, stayed tight-lipped following their 1-0 defeat to Burnley on Saturday.
He said: “We have been linked with everyone. At the moment I have nothing to say on it. We are working hard on a number of things.”
Grimes delighted with Swans character
Swansea skipper Matt Grimes lauded the efforts of his team-mates after they pulled off a 3-1 win at Sunderland on Saturday.
Goals from Joel Piroe, Liam Cullen and Ollie Cooper were enough to see off 10-man Black Cats in front of 40,000 spectators at the Stadium of Light.
Grimes said he was particularly pleased with the character on display in what was a riotous atmosphere in the north east.
“I think coming away here is unbelievably difficult,” he said. “It doesn’t really matter what the circumstances are, they’re a very good side and with their crowd it’s difficult, so it’s a massive three points for us.
“When you come here and something goes against them, it gets the fans up to get behind their team. That was the case here. They were down to 10 men, but the energy the crowd gave them made it difficult for us.
“We showed massive character. I don’t think the fact that they had 10 men should take anything away from how good a win this is.
“We’ve taken six points from a very, very good side this season so now we just have to kick on and see where it takes us.
"I think in this run, starting with the Watford game, we’ve been excellent. I thought we performed well against Burnley and the first half against Bristol City and then again here. We showed good patience and stuck to our guns. We just need to keep doing what we’re doing.”
Piroe put Swansea ahead but they suffered a setback when the hosts equalised through Dan Neil, However, they maintained their composure to fire home two more goals to put the game out of sight.
“It was a bit of a setback to go to 1-1, but we stuck to our game plan and got the win in the end,” added Grimes.
"In any game you play you want to be first on the scoresheet, especially somewhere like here – you don’t want to give them something to hang on to. We showed the character to get two more goals, which we deserved.
“Sunderland are going to start really quickly here, which they did but once the game settled, they had a man sent off and the game changed from there.
“We had to make sure we were patient and kept doing what we planned and we got the win in the end.”
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