These are your Swansea City headlines on Monday, March 27
Laudrup's big claim
Former Swansea boss Michael Laudrup says the 5-0 win over Bradford in the Capital One Cup final is the most important victory of his career.
That's some claim for a man revered on both sides of the Real Madrid-Barcelona divide, with league titles and a European Cup to his name too.
Laudrup the manager led Swansea to the final at Wembley in 2012 playing superb football, which saw them qualify for the Europa League the next season, where they battered Valencia 3-0 on their own turf.
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The Dane places his managerial feats over his illustrious playing ones, though.
"The most important win I ever had," he told the Daily Mail. "A small club, a small team. It is one thing winning with Barcelona, Real Madrid, Juventus, Ajax, even Brondby. But this? It was so very, very special.
"I remember saying to the players, 'Maybe some of you there will be a chance to play a final next year. Maybe for some of you this will never happen again. You just don’t know — so enjoy this'. People asked if I enjoyed games as a manager. How can you enjoy a game? You never enjoy a game!
"But this one, at 3-0 in the 50th minute, it was over. It was special, too, for the Bradford fans. Nobody could take their moment away from them, a League Two side reaching Wembley. Even at 3-0, 4-0 there was a fantastic atmosphere. It’s not just rare for that to happen. It’s impossible."
Race for Reynolds heats up
Reports in Italy state there are five teams now interested in signing Roma full-back Bryan Reynolds.
Swansea have been linked with the USA defender for some time. He is currently on loan with Belgian side Westerlo, who have a reported purchase option of €7million.
That fee is likely to price them - and Swansea - out of the equation, with Genk, Sparta Prague and Championship side Watford also keen on the 21-year-old. Roma are willing to sell Reynolds to reinvest in their squad.
Swansea head coach Russell Martin says the club's summer transfer window will be "massive" with full-backs likely to be on the agenda - but certainly not at the price quoted for Reynolds.
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Ogbeta's 'difficult' Swansea times and signing admission
Nathanael Ogbeta notched up his first goal for loan side Peterborough United at the weekend - and produced an acrobatic celebration to mark it.
The left-back scored the second in a 2-0 win over Derby County at London Road.
After the match, he revealed he was proud to score in front of his parents who were in attendance, adding that his time at Swansea had been "difficult" due to a lack of game-time.
He also revealed Posh boss Darren Ferguson had tried to sign him a number of times before getting his current loan deal sorted.
“I used to do that when I was 10 when I was a winger and used to score a lot," he said of his backflip. "I’m a little bit rusty as it’s been a while but I was happy to bring it out and my parents were in the crowd so it was a flashback to old times.
“I’m so grateful to get my opportunity to play and to get my goal. It’s been a long time coming and I’ve had a difficult time not playing at Swansea but being able to play here regularly has been such a blessing.
“I’ve been trying to do the same sorts of things in previous games but not seeing the results. I’ve been reading mindset books though and they talk about perseverance. I had to be patient to get my goals and assists and now it’s starting to roll, I’m really happy and it’s started to give me more energy and belief.
"I’m hungry to keep improving and to keep affecting games.
“Playing under the gaffer has been really good. He tried to sign me a couple of times when I was at Shrewsbury so I know he knows me and he’s poured belief into me. In terms of his man-management and knowing how to get the best out of players, he’s certainly taken a leaf out of his dad's book.
“Just after Cheltenham- when we were all down- he pulled me and told me he was delighted with how I was doing, that just kept me believing in what I was doing in a difficult time and now the whole script has changed and we’re really pushing for the play-offs.
“Going through my clips with the coaching staff has really helped me to build a good relationship with Ephron Mason-Clark in terms of creating two vs ones and getting on the overlap as well as improving defensively. I’m not the best header but working with the team is really helping me to improve.”
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