Graham Potter has revealed that "conversations are happening" regarding the contract situations of several members of his Swansea City squad.
Club captain Leroy Fer, Martin Olsson, Wayne Routledge and Luciano Narsingh are all out of contract this summer while Cameron Carter-Vickers will see his season-long loan deal from Tottenham come to an end.
It's understood that contract talks have taken longer than expected of late due to the arrival of Trevor Birch, who begins his post as chairman next week.
And Potter admits Birch's arrival should help the Swans to tie down their key stars in the near future.
"I'd rather not go into the specifics of the players, and there's quite a few out (of contract) that we need to discuss," said Potter.
"There's not just him (Olsson), there's Wayne, Leroy and there's a few others which we're all doing in our own time.
"Trevor coming in helps with that as well. So nothing necessarily to report but conversations are happening."
Courtney Baker-Richardson was the latest first-team player to sign fresh terms with the club while Potter revealed last month that George Byers had triggered a 12-month extension on his existing deal as a result of his appearances for the Swans this term.
But there are concerns over the futures of Mike van der Hoorn and Daniel James.
James' current contract expires in June 2020 while van der Hoorn's deal runs out this summer, although the club will exercise a clause that will see the Dutchman given a one-year extension.
Potter revealed in February that the club are in talks with the duo, along with Fer, over new deals.
James is set to attract plenty of interest in the summer as a result of his efforts with Swansea while he also stole the headlines during the international break after scoring the winner for Wales in their Euro 2020 qualifier against Slovakia at Cardiff City Stadium.
And when asked about the need to tie James - and other members of his squad - down on long-term deals, Potter responded: “The simple answer is yes, but the most crucial thing is that the team is improving and you have a group of players working together that are developing. I think you can see that.
“You look at Connor Roberts, Mike van der Hoorn, George Byers, Dan James, Bersant Celina, Oli McBurnie, there's quite a few players that have increased in value I would say that have grown as players. That's something for us to remember.
“In the ideal world you want everybody on five-year contracts with Real Madrid after them but it's not always easy to get to that point.”
Birch is set to begin his role as chairman next week.
Potter met with the 61-year-old prior to his appointment as club chairman, and the Swansea boss admits Birch's background in football should be hugely beneficial in his role at the Liberty Stadium.
"It's really positive and I'm looking forward to working with him as well. He's a football guy as well so it should be really good," added Potter.
"He's got an understanding of the game and the industry. He's not having to come in from the outside and learn about how football works so that's good. And then he brings in his expertise from the commercial sector so I think he's got every base covered and I'm pretty sure it's going to be a positive working relationship."
The Swans have endured two hugely difficult transfer windows since Potter made the move from Sweden to South Wales last summer.
In his first summer at the club, Swansea sold no fewer than 13 players while Renato Sanches, Andy King and Tammy Abraham all saw their loan deals come to an end.
They also lost Wilfried Bony, Tom Carroll and Jefferson Montero on deadline day in January.
The Swans made only six signings last summer while no fresh faces were recruited in the winter window meaning Potter has been heavily reliant on academy players during his debut campaign at the club.
And Potter admits the club are in a better position going into this summer than last year, although he remained coy on whether or not he has been given assurances over which players he may keep or sell in the upcoming window.
"The windows have been what they are and they're a result of where the football club is at and I have to respond to that," he added.
"It's not for me to say 'I want this or that'. The football club has to take its decision about what it has to do and we'll do the same in the window.
"I think what we have got going into the third window is more of a nucleus and more of an idea of a team than we had in the first window.
"I'll be honest, you haven't got a clue because people are coming and going. Matt Grimes is coming back from nowhere, Dan James was on loan at Shrewsbury, so there's all of these things you have no idea about really so we're in a better place now in terms of information to know about the team and what we need to do.
"Again, we still need to address the financial issues that are around the club so hopefully we can do that but I think we're in a better place to be able to do that in this one because we've got a core group of players who have got a good value on the market and have something behind them to work with."
