Swansea City head coach Russell Martin has confirmed that both he and the Championship club "really like" Manchester United defender Ethan Laird, as the youngster closes in on a move to the Welsh outfit
As reported by MEN Sport earlier this week, Laird is understood to be set for a move to the Swansea.com Stadium in a bid to secure himself regular first-team football.
The 20-year-old right-back, who is under contract at Old Trafford until the summer of 2023, is no stranger to Martin after spending time under his watch at League One side MK Dons last term. Martin recently left Stadium MK to be appointed as Steve Cooper's successor at Swansea.
With Martin desperate to add new faces to his squad, Laird is seen as an ideal option within his plans and he has refused to deny the Swans' interest in him.
"Personally, I love Ethan, I worked with him for four or five months," Martin said, as quoted by WalesOnline. "He's a brilliant character. He did really well for us on the pitch, but he’s not our player at the moment.
"I’d be lying if I said I wouldn't like to work with him again at some point.
"But he's not here. He’s at Man United at the moment. But as a player and a person he’s someone we really like."
As reported by MEN Sport a few days ago, Swansea sources expect Laird to finalise a move to the Championship club, who missed out on promotion last season after losing the play-off final to Brentford at Wembley, by the end of the week.
If he is to feature in the Swans' first home game of the season against Sheffield United on Saturday evening, Laird would have to complete his loan switch and be registered by 12pm on Friday.
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