MK Dons are reportedly lining up Gillingham's Jack Tucker amid 'fear' Harry Darling could leave the club for Swansea City - if Russell Martin's side stump up the cash.
Swansea have long been admirers of Darling and have been linked with the 22-year-old for months.
The Sun report the Dons are bracing themselves for Darling's exit and are looking at centre-back Tucker as a replacement.
Any Swans move would be dependant on them raising the money for Darling - and that could be a problem considering they missed out on Matt O'Riley earlier this week with Celtic announcing his signature from Liam Manning's side.
Swansea could yet receive fees for Jay Fulton, Yan Dhanda and Jamie Paterson this month, but with finances remaining tight at the Swansea.com Stadium, a move for Darling appears more likely in the summer.
Martin aimed a pointed message at the club's owners last weekend saying "a certain level of investment" would be required to get a deal for O'Riley over the line.
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"Matt O’Riley is a fantastic player but he’s an MK Dons player. He would be a permanent addition that would take a certain level of investment for him to become a player away from MK Dons," Martin said before O'Riley's move to Celtic was confirmed.
"Before we do any business, especially permanently, it will take investment coming in."
It would suggest, then, that a move for Darling may prove rather problematic.
A player who has helped Martin in the centre-back department since his arrival in SA1 has been Ryan Manning.
The Republic of Ireland international has been in good form and has thrived under his new manager's stewardship.
He got on the scoresheet against Preston and celebrated by raising his hand to his head and making the shape of a horn, and he revealed it was down to a nickname he has been given by one of the club’s medical team.
“You’d have to ask Minty (soft tissue therapist Matt Murray), he was the one who started this whole thing of calling me Rhino,” said the 25-year-old.
“He started it last year so I had a celebration with it and that has become his thing now, he is always on about it.
“He was on at me because I didn’t do it against Reading, so if I didn’t do it this time he probably wouldn’t give me any treatment any more!
“It’s an inside joke between us and it’s all good fun, but the big thing was the win and the three points.
“If you look at it, we’ve got a win, three points and a clean sheet and that’s a pretty good day at the office if you have all those things.
“After the performance at Huddersfield we needed to build on it and keep the momentum going, and now we have got that win we want to go on a run of results.
“This was something we needed and hopefully we can put a good sequence of results together now to climb the table.”
Another member of Swansea's centre-back union is Ben Cabango, who was another to impress against the Lilywhites on Saturday afternoon.
Martin has been pleased with the Welshman too, and has revealed that he is desperate to force his way back into the Wales reckoning.
"I think he's been fantastic," the head coach said.
"He's the only Welsh speaking player we have.
"Where he's from is very important to him and if he carries on doing what he's doing… as I said, I don't pick the Wales squad, but if he carries on doing what he's doing he's going to be really difficult to leave out.
"The way he's defended his goal in the last two games, he's been fantastic."
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