Your Swansea City headlines on Wednesday, January 25.
Clubs tracking Gelhardt
Blackburn Rovers, Sunderland and Middlesbrough are among the clubs looking to hijack Wigan Athletic's expected deal to sign Joe Gelhardt on loan from Leeds United.
Swansea are firm admirers of the 20-year-old and were keen on striking a deal with Jesse Marsch's side to take the striker on loan for the remainder of the season.
However, his former club Wigan are now the frontrunners to secure his services, although a deal has not yet gone through.
And a number of Championship clubs are continuing to explore the option of making a late move for Gelhardt given that a switch to the DW Stadium had not been finalised.
READ MORE: Liam Walsh's nightmare nearly over as Swansea City's summer observation raises eyebrows
Ex-Swan to join Stoke
Bersant Celina is on the brink of joining Stoke City, according to The Telegraph.
The Kosovan joined the Swans from Manchester City in 2018 and excelled under Graham Potter before finding regular starts hard to come by under Steve Cooper.
He left the club to join Dijon in 2020 but is now poised to secure a temporary switch to the Potters after having his loan spell with Turkish club Kasimpasa cut short.
The 26-year-old made 79 appearances in his two seasons at Swansea, scoring 10 goals.
Cooper in controversial punch incident
Brandon Cooper appeared to be punched during an appearance for loan club Forest Green Rovers.
The Welshman joined the Gloucestershire outfit on loan from Swansea earlier this month for the remainder of the season and has already started four matches for the League One outfit.
However, midway through the first half of his new club's clash with Bolton Wanderers on Tuesday night, Cooper appeared to be punched by Elias Kachunga.
Referee Tom Nield showed goal scorer Dion Charles a straight red card following the incident, with Bolton now set to appeal the decision in what was clearly a case of mistaken identity.
Swans and Sunderland fined
Swansea City and Sunderland have been fined for failing to control their players following a "mass confrontation" between the sides during the Championship meeting earlier this month.
Luke O'Nien was shown a straight red card for a reckless challenge on Ollie Cooper in the 18th minute of the contest at the Stadium of Light on January 14.
Following the horror tackle, players became embroiled in a confrontation in the middle of the pitch, with Swansea's Ben Cabango being yellow carded.
And the Football Association have confirmed that Sunderland have been fined £5,000 for failing to ensure players conducted themselves in an orderly fashion, with Swansea receiving a fine of £6,000 for the same reasoning.
Tony Mowbray's side admitted to the charge and accepted the standard penalty although Swansea requested a hearing after admitting to the charge.
An independent regulatory commission subsequently imposed Swansea's fine, with written reasons for it due to be published in due course.
Russell Martin's men won the match 3-1 courtesy of second-half goals from Joel Piroe, Liam Cullen and Cooper.
Break to benefit Swans
Ben Cabango says Swansea's two-week spell without a match will be hugely beneficial as they aim to attack the final months of the campaign.
Owing to their FA Cup defeat to Bristol City, Swansea will not play a fixture this weekend given that their scheduled opponents Stoke City face Stevenage.
It means the Swans do not return to action until they host Birmingham City in south Wales on Saturday, February 4.
And defender Cabango says the club will use the time to improve on any of the negatives from their recent fixtures.
“We get time to work on the fine details that we’ve been missing in the games, and get those right," he told the club website.
“So I feel that two weeks is going to be good for us as a team, we’ll go over the stuff we need to improve on and hopefully we’ll come out of the two weeks stronger.
“It’s been a tough couple of weeks, especially with the Bristol City cup games, so we’re looking forward to the break now so that we can recover and then go well for the rest of the season.
“We have high aims in this squad because we know what we’re capable of. We just need to be more consistent with it and get the performances.”
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