Swansea City boss Russell Martin insists Joel Piroe is happy at Swansea City, despite ongoing speculation around the striker's future.
Piroe was widely expected to depart this summer, with club sources initially pessimistic about Swansea's chances of keeping hold of the Dutchman, who enjoyed a fine breakout season in the Championship last term which yielded 21 goals. Needing a significant sale to plug a gap in their finances, there was previously an acceptance Piroe would likely be on his way to pastures new, with the Premier League touted as his most likely destination.
Leicester City were mentioned as possible suitors earlier in the transfer window, but sources in the East Midlands have long doubted the strength of the Foxes' interest, while Brighton and Hove Albion, under the guidance of former Swans boss Graham Potter, are the most recent name to have been linked. However, sources on the south coast are similarly doubtful.
Piroe was on target during the recent pre-season win over Charlton Athletic, and Martin insists the 22-year-old is happy with life in SA1. When quizzed by BBC Radio Wales on whether he was confident both Piroe and fellow striker Michael Obafemi would still be Swansea players by the close of the transfer window, Martin stopped short of ruling out a possible sale but admitted the sale of Flynn Downes to West Ham United had somewhat strengthened their hand.
"You never know what's going to happen in football so I've never come out and promised that but I also know that Joel is very happy," he said. "I speak to Joel, I speak to his representatives as well, as does Josh Marsh, and they're really happy. They're happy with Joel's development.
"They're happy that this is a really good club for him at this moment in time. The style of play really suits him, and I think Joel's aware of the big picture as well. He's enjoying his football. I think the sale of Flynn Downes helps strengthen our position with Joel a little bit as well.
"So while you never want to promise because the transfer window goes on for a month while the season's going on, so who knows what's going to happen between now and then, but at this moment in time, both players are very happy, and we're very happy to have them."
Meanwhile, Martin says he will not take any risks on Joe Allen's fitness ahead of the start of the new season, with the Wales international unlikely to feature in Saturday's Championship curtain-raiser at Rotherham United this Saturday.
"I don't think he'll be ready to start this weekend, no," the manager said. "I think there's a thing around Joe where some expect him to be injured a bit, but not at all.
"I think he played 53 games last season, which is more than Flynn Downes did for us. He played brilliantly for Wales. He played a lot of games for Stoke, so we've got no worries really.
"It was an injury that happened at the end of the season. They'd been celebrating qualifying for the World Cup, which anyone would. He then picked up the virus and tried to play 45 minutes and unfortunately picked up an injury during that.
"So he's fine, he's in a really good place. He's really happy to be back. We don't want to rush him. We maybe could have rushed him to start this weekend, but then you run the risk of losing him further forward. It's a really, really long season, so we'd rather he maybe miss this one, so that he's available for a later one."
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