These are your Swansea City headlines on New Year's Day
Rotherham lining up Ogbene replacement?
The Sun report Rotherham United are looking at Northern Irish striker Lee Bonis amid Swansea's interest in the Millers' star man Chiedozie Ogbene.
WalesOnline understands the Republic of Ireland attacker is Swansea's number-one target this month as they look to strengthen their goalscoring options. With doubts over the future of Michael Obafemi in SA1, interest in Ogbene is only likely to heighten.
He was left out of Rotherham's matchday squad to face Millwall on Sunday, only adding fuel to the fire.
With Ogbene's contract expiring in the summer, Rotherham could well decide to cash in this month to avoid losing him for free, with Larne FC's Bonis seen as a potential replacement.
The Millers have been quoted £300,000.
Ogbene was quizzed earlier on this week and remained coy on what might happen in the next few weeks.
“It is something I have been discussing with my agent,” Ogbene said. “If you were to push me to decide before January ... I think that’s a lot for me to take on board.
"It’s something I try not to think about because I think it will affect me if I’m put under pressure.
"The club have shown me the respect of saying: ‘Listen, we obviously want you to make a decision but we’re also going to respect your space’.
"Right now I don’t know where my future lies really,” he continued. “I’ve always had ambitions to push and try to get to the next level.
“I have my family around me and my agent advising me. We will always do the pros and cons before we make a decision."
Asked whether negotiations will continue after a fortnight, he replied: “I do believe so. It’s too soon to say in the next few days coming up.”
Fin Stevens recalled
Brentford have recalled Fin Stevens from his season-long loan with Swansea.
Stevens has failed to break into Russell Martin's first-team plans and his exit will only heighten Swansea's need for fresh blood in the right wingback position.
In a statement, Swansea said: "Brentford have recalled Fin Stevens from his loan spell at Swansea City.
"The 19-year-old defender joined the Swans on a season-long loan in the closing stages of the summer window.
"The Wales Under-21 international made five substitute appearances for Swansea in the Championship, the most recent of which came in the victory over Reading in October.
"Everyone at Swansea City would like to thank Fin for his contribution during his brief time at the club, and wish him every success in his future career."
Cullen: I looked up to Trunds
Liam Cullen says he loves scoring goals for the club he supported as a boy and says Lee Trundle was the player he admired growing up.
Cullen scored his first goal in front of supporters at the Swansea.com Stadium on Friday and he says pulling on the shirt and hearing the fans sing his name is what he has always dreamed of.
"Lee Trundle was the player I admired most growing up," he said. "He was here when I first started coming as a kid and he is left footed like me. It was always him. Then you had people like Jason Scotland and Michu.
"I love playing for this club every time I do it. To hear them singing my name and to get the applause as I was coming off, there is nothing better.
"I absolutely loved my time at Lincoln and everything about that club was brilliant. Even they said that their main aim was to get me to play well to come back to Swansea and play for my club because they knew how much this club means to me.
"I have always wanted to play for this club and that’s never going to change."
Piroe: Perfect way to end year
Joel Piroe says the 4-0 smashing of Watford was the perfect way to end 2022 and says momentum must now follow through to the clash against Burnley.
Dutchman Piroe bagged a brace against the Hornets as Swansea finally clicked after a disappointing run of results saw their play-off push stall.
They are now just one point off the top six again and Piroe wants the good bits from the game against Slaven Bilic's men to be taken forward to the Clarets fixture
“We can take a lot of confidence from this performance and result, of course,” he said.
“We knew coming into these games that Burnley and Watford are some strong teams. They have come down from the Premier League.
“We know we can expect another tough test on Monday, so we need to take the good stuff from the Watford game and look to take it on again.
“The Watford game was a perfect way to end the year, it is what we have been waiting for. I think it finally all came together for us.
“Not we want to make sure we start 2023 well in front of our own fans, who have been brilliant for us even when the results have not been going so well.”
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