These are your Swansea City headlines on Friday, June 17.
Another club in for Tucker
League One club Bolton Wanderers have joined the race for Gillingham's Jack Tucker.
The young centre-back's contract is up with the Gills this summer and he is set to move on, with Swansea, Charlton and Reading credited with interest in the 22-year-old.
It was revealed yesterday that the Royals won't be pursing a deal with Tucker, with a financial package unable to be agreed between the parties.
And according to The Bolton News, the Trotters are the latest club to take note of the player. Gills boss Neil Harris revealed earlier this month that he felt Tucker would move on this summer.
“We made him a (contract) offer because we want to keep our compensation rights but I would like to keep him because he is a great player and a good character but we have to be realistic and say ‘is Jack Tucker better than League Two?’ In my opinion he is,” he said.
He added: “With Jack, I would like to keep him, he has come through our academy and we would like to keep our homegrown players in and around our first-team group. We will have to see what unfolds but I don’t expect Jack to be here next season, if I am honest.”
Swans aim dig
It's been a busy week for Swansea off the pitch, launching two new kits ahead of the next season.
On Thursday it was the home version, which had mixed reviews mainly over the collar, but Friday's launch of the retro-inspired away strip has been universally hailed.
The orange, blue and white design is a firm nod to the Swans’ cult away kit used between 1993 and 1995. In the promotional shots for the launch, a subtle poke in the ribs is aimed at rivals Cardiff City, with the dates and scorelines of the two South Wales derbies firmly in shot.
In the corner of all five promotional shots you can see "3.0.17.10.21.0.4.2.4.22." An eagle-eyed fan spotted the detail on Twitter.
Swans back in pre-season
It only feels like yesterday that Russell Martin and Co were doing a lap of the Swansea.com Stadium after defeat to QPR on the final day of last season.
And today players made their way back to Fairwood for the start of pre-season preparations for the new term. With the Championship fixtures announced next week, we'll soon know Swansea's schedule for the upcoming campaign. We know that the season starts on the weekend of July 30.
Swansea have announced two pre-season friendlies against Plymouth (July 12) and Charlton (July 15), with more set to be confirmed in due course.
What Swans are getting with Wood
Some excellent insight here into why Middlesbrough let Nathan Wood join Swansea and the key attributes he'll bring to Martin' team. We spoke to Teesside report Craig Johns to get the lowdown on Swansea's new signing and it is clear he has a high ceiling in terms of his potential.
"Wood is a really talented and promising young centre-back with excellent pedigree and exciting potential," he told WalesOnline. "Although he hasn't quite managed to make that full step-up to regular first-teamer at Boro, he's been on the periphery of that since his debut aged just 16. He's an England youth international and comes through a Boro academy which has a rich history of producing Premier League quality centre-backs.
"He's good on the ball and an intelligent player already. In his few first-team appearances for Boro he's had good days and bad days as you might expect of someone so young. His performance last season when needing to come into the side because of injury against Nottingham Forest stands out as what Wood could be. Boro won 1-0 and Wood came into the side and slotted in seamlessly, looking far more confident than his 18 years would suggest. Nothing got past him and he was pinging some lovely balls out of defence."
