Nathan Dyer says Morgan Whittaker would bring something different to Swansea City should he remain at the club beyond the January transfer window.
The attacker excelled during his loan spell with Plymouth Argyle in the first half of the campaign and was duly recalled by his parent club earlier this month.
He has attracted transfer interest from Rangers - with the Scottish Premiership giants having a bid for the 22-year-old rejected by the Swans.
Whittaker was due to be included in his side's matchday squad for Saturday's 1-1 draw with Queens Park Rangers at Loftus Road, although, on Friday, he informed boss Russell Martin that he was not in the right frame of mind to feature against the Hoops amid Rangers' interest in him.
And club icon Dyer says Whittaker could provide the solution to one of the key issues plaguing Swansea at present.
"For me, I feel that they need a bit of pace and a little bit of flair to unlock those defences and create more problems up top," the former winger said on BBC Radio Wales.
"It's a hard situation for Morgan. When he first left, he left on the back of scoring a hat-trick for Swansea. I'll have to defend him and say he wanted to do everything he could to play for the team. He's gone on loan and now been recalled.
"I don't think everybody knows the full details of why that was. I know that it wouldn't be down to him refusing to play for Swansea, for any other reason than there must be something else in the pipeline.
"I think he's a good player and he brings something different to the team. There's a lot of politics involved in this. It's not just the manager recalling him to play, it could be the owners that have something in mind.
"The January transfer window is very hard. Most likely, the players that do move, it's already been talked about or it's an emergency type of signing. Swansea don't want to get into that rat race of signing players for the sake of it. If it's not right, it's not right.
"We could potentially be losing [Michael] Obafemi and [Jamie] Paterson, so that is something that needs to be strengthened if that is the case."
Discussing Whittaker's absence from the matchday 18 at QPR, Martin said: "I did the (pre-match) press conference and received a text from Morgs saying he wasn't in the right frame of mind to travel with the squad, for a number of reasons.
"The situation hasn't changed, we haven't received any more bids from anyone. We have to respect that and be conscious he's a young man in a difficult moment. His wellbeing is the most important bit.
"He's got his family with him this weekend because he doesn't want to think about football and we'll assess the situation when we're back in on Monday and see where we're all at.
"It just means it'll be a slower process, him trying to get back into the team if he's still here in 12 days or whatever it is, which I envisage him being."
Swansea remain determined to bolster their ranks before the 11pm deadline on January 31, with a striker being their prime target.
They could also add a right-back to their squad while they are awaiting news on Steven Benda's injury before determining whether or not they will need to recruit a goalkeeper.
Martin's men return to action against Birmingham City on Saturday, February 4.
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