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Ian Mitchelmore

Swansea City transfer news as Obafemi and Paterson situations clarified and Rangers say 'no stand-off' over Whittaker

Your Swansea City headlines on Friday, January 20.

Paterson and Obafemi latest

Russell Martin confirmed Swansea City are yet to receive any formal bids for Jamie Paterson this month.

The Swans are willing to let the 31-year-old move on before the 11pm transfer deadline on January 31, with Coventry City among those who have explored the option of signing the attacker.

READ MORE: Rangers dealt Morgan Whittaker transfer hammer blow as Swansea City set to include striker in squad for QPR

But Martin confirmed the Swans have not had any offers for Paterson while also confirming that the two bids for Michael Obafemi, understood to be from Burnley, were well below the club's valuation of the Republic of Ireland striker.

"Pato and Michael, it's pretty much the same situation as when I spoke to the guys on Tuesday night," said Martin.

"We've had bids for Michael but they're short of the valuation we have for him. With Pato, there's lots of interest but no firm offers yet."

The highest of the two bids received for Obafemi was understood to be worth around £2.5m.

Beale: No Whittaker stand-off

Rangers boss Michael Beale says there is "no stand-off" over a move for Swansea striker Morgan Whittaker.

Swans head coach Russell Martin revealed on Friday that Whittaker would likely be staying in south Wales this month, wanting to "draw a line" under speculation linking him with the Scottish giants. At least one bid has been rejected and he is now expected to feature against QPR at the weekend.

Beale said on the matter: “There’s no stand-off. We’re doing the business in private but in Wales they’ve spoken out about it so we’re not going to add to that. He’s come back from loan and could be in their squad this weekend. He’s their player.

"Nothing will be announced before the weekend, the focus is on this game. In the last 24 hours there’s been one or two enquiries for some of ours which is interesting. The focus is on this game but it might be the case one or two of ours might go out temporarily or permanently because they want to play. With one or two coming in you’re making room for what the squad will look like.”

Martin said earlier on in the day: "With Morgan, he's in the squad tomorrow. We've had bids, we've rejected bids, they're quite a way from the club's valuation of Morgan.

"I think we need to draw a line under it. Morgan is in agreement. So he's in the squad tomorrow, we look forward to having him in the squad and we'll take it from there."

Gelhardt still at Leeds

Joe Gelhardt is still at Leeds United amid an expected loan departure from the club this month.

Swansea are among a clutch of Championship sides who have shown an interest in signing the 20-year-old for the remainder of the season.

However, his former club Wigan Athletic now appear destined to secure his services for the remaining months of the campaign.

But, ahead of Leeds' Premier League clash with Brentford at Elland Road on Sunday, boss Jesse Marsch confirmed that the striker was still with the Whites and that he had taken part in their training session on Friday.

"He's still in the the building and trained today," the American said in a press conference, as quoted by our sister title LeedsLive.

Gelhardt started his career with Wigan and made 21 appearances for their first team before signing a permanent deal with Leeds in the summer of 2020.

Despite concerns, Latics boss Kolo Toure says he hopes a move can be sorted soon. "As you know there is a lot of speculation during this month," he said. "And we have people working very, very hard behind the scenes to make things happen.

"It is very difficult for us to speak about some of the things that are going on. For me, all I can focus on is a very important game coming up for us this weekend. But I've heard a lot of good things about him, he is obviously a really, really good player, who has scored a lot of goals.

"Technically he is very, very good, and he is a great guy as well. Definitely, he is a player with big, big potential, but I can't say much more than that."

Darling enjoying tactical switch

Harry Darling believes Swansea are benefitting from their recent tactical switch which has seen them deploy a back four.

The summer signing has been in and out of the side this term but is now finding his feet as Swansea have moved away from utilising a back three with wing-backs.

And Darling is confident that the Swans can continue to rise up the Championship table given their recent performances in the league.

"We've gone to this new formation recently which I feel has worked really well," he said. "I think performances, for the majority, have been quite good. Sometimes the result hasn't quite gone our way.

"I feel like we can start to turn that around now and turn good performances into results.

"You've seen from the performances, it's suiting us. Like the gaffer says, in the games, it doesn't really look too different, no matter what formation we play. It's going well so far, and hopefully that can carry on."

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