Your Swansea City headlines for Thursday, April 14.
Piroe ignoring the noise
Russell Martin says Joel Piroe is loving life at Swansea amid transfer interest from Leicester City.
The Dutchman took his goal tally to 20 for the season with his brace against Derby County on Saturday afternoon. He has six games left to further extend his tally before the 2021/22 campaign reaches its climax. And Martin fully believes that Piroe will not be affected by any speculation regarding his future.
"We’re going to talk about this for the next however long, my answer is going to be the same all the time," said Martin. "He’s here, he loves being here, we love working with him.
"He’s a fantastic young man, an excellent player and I still feel he has a lot left to give. It’s his first season in one of the toughest leagues in the world. The way he’s adapted to it has been incredible. He’s our player. He enjoys being here. That’s it. The rest is just noise. I tell the players all the time to ignore the noise.
"We’ll just keep taking it day by day and working with him as much as we can and he hopefully can keep producing the level of performances he has. It’s not going to distract him, that’s for sure."
Michu extends Burgos stay
Michu has extended his contract as sports director at Burgos CF by two years, it has been confirmed.
The Spaniard has held numerous behind-the-scenes roles since retiring from playing in 2017. He was director of football at Langreo and went on to hold the post of technical secretary at his former club Oviedo.
The former Swansea striker has been with Spanish Segunda Division side Burgos since 2019 and has just put pen to paper on a new deal to commit his future to the club.
Writing on his social media platforms, Michu confirmed the news with a simple message which read: "To be continued." In a press conference, the Swansea icon went on to say: "It is a position of great responsibility and I am very grateful that my work is valued."
Michu joined Swansea from Rayo Vallecano in the 2012 summer transfer window and scored 28 goals in 67 appearances for the club.
Stewart future likely to depend on promotion
Sunderland striker Ross Stewart's future is likely to hinge on the Black Cats' promotion fate this season, according to reports in the Northern Echo.
Stewart has been bang in form in League One this season, and is currently the joint-top scorer in the division. His performances have attracted interest from a number of clubs, including Swansea, Norwich City and Rangers. Russell Martin is a known admirer of the Scot but finances are likely to price Swansea out of a move for the 25-year-old, with competition likely to be fierce if the Stadium of Light club miss out on promotion.
His manager, Alex Neil, is keen to concentrate on the task in hand rather than focus on Stewart's future at this point in time.
“I’ve got bigger things to concern myself about than trying to keep a player happy who’s got his own objectives in his career,” said Neil. “The simple fact is, I’ve got the Sunderland fans, the Sunderland community and the Sunderland club as a whole to concern myself with.
“Ross has done really well for us, but the simple fact is that if we can continue to make progress and get ourselves out of this league, then naturally players will want to be here and play here. It really is as simple as that. The simple fact is that he’s our contracted player. He’s done well, but he’s done well because he’s been given a chance at this club. I’m sure he’ll be respectful of that as well.
“But I’m not going into the remaining games worrying that if I don’t win them, or we don’t win them, then Ross might see his future elsewhere. I don’t think about that with any of the players, it doesn’t even cross my mind at the moment.”
Sunderland currently sit sixth in the standings in a congested third-tier table.
Read more: Kyle Naughton agrees new Swansea City deal as Russell Martin gives update on further contracts
Defence praised
Russell Martin cited Swansea City's bravery in possession as a key factor in their improved defensive record of late.
The Swans are unbeaten in their last five matches and kept three successive clean sheets prior to the 2-1 triumph over Derby County. In total, the Swans have had just 13 shots on target against them in their previous five fixtures.
And Martin says the willingness of the players to trust in his methods is reaping rewards at present.
“If you look, we have had very few shots on target against us over the last number of games, and first and foremost put that down to the bravery the players have shown on the ball,” the head coach told the Swansea website.
“It takes away energy from opponents with what they do on the ball, with the courage they show, and they are so important for us in terms of how we build play. It’s also down to their willingness and desire to defend and close down the distances to players."
Where will Swansea finish in the league this season? Have your say in the comments section below.
Reality hitting home for Tykes
Championship survival is "extremely unlikely" for Barnsley.
The Yorkshire outfit are eight points adrift of safety with just six matches left to be played this season. They go into Friday's match against Swansea having won just one of their last seven fixtures.
And Doug O'Kane - who is sports editor at the Barnsley Chronicle - believes Poya Asbaghi's side may need to be flawless over the final stages of the campaign if they are to stay up.
"Barnsley’s players and staff are still insisting they can stay up but there are not many signs of that on the pitch or in the league table in which they are eight points from safety, with a game in hand on fourth-bottom Reading," he said.
"They may have to win all six remaining games, which would double their tally of victories from the first 40 league matches. Even if only four or five wins are required, that currently seems well beyond a side who have won one of their last seven and, after being too defensive in a 1-1 draw with Reading who they needed to beat at home, were awful in a 4-1 thrashing at Millwall.
"A victory at Swansea, who they have a terrible record against, would be the kind of result that would spark a little bit of belief again, with bottom club Peterborough to visit Oakwell on Monday. But survival is extremely unlikely."
Kick-off against Barnsley in Swansea is at 3pm on Good Friday.
