Today's Western Mail reports that the Swans are being priced out of a move for West Brom striker Peter Odemwingie with reports that the Baggies could be looking for as much as a laughable £4m for the player with the Swans valuation less than half that.
And Wales on Sunday reports that the Swans are not keen to move on their own valuation for the player and confirming again that both Stoke City and Cardiff City were waiting in the wings. A report on Cardiff City forums last night suggested that they had 'blown us out of the water' in the deal for Odemwingie but that hasn't been confirmed yet by either side.
The refreshing part for me is the way that the Swans will not be held to ransom when they are doing their transfer business and they tend to have a price in mind for a player and will not move beyond that or be dragged into a bidding war.
Amusingly on this one, the three clubs that want the player all hold the aces so any of them paying over the odds for the player will be doing so possibly for the wrong reasons. We all know that West Brom want rid of the striker so to try and push the price up to the £2.5m initially talked about or even the £4m mentioned today seems a bit pointless but we know that transfer deadlines can force prices up. However, you can almost guarantee that come around 7pm tomorrow if they haven't sold the player then he will be sold and a deal confirmed at a lower price then they currently say he is worth.
The Swans will hold out at their valuation and hope that they get their man but it will be on their terms if it happens and if that means that they miss out on their target then so be it.
Laudrup has admitted: "I hope that when I wake up on Monday morning I will have three points in the league and a new forward in my squad.
"I don’t want to do things on Monday because there is a lot of panic before closing time.
"Sometimes you think it’s a sure deal, but then someone comes in and offers more money or convinces the agent or the other club.
"I don’t want to do that. I really hope we can do something in the next 48 hours.”
It will of course be frustrating if we don't add to the squad tomorrow as we have said long and hard that we want a new striker as back up to Bony but it is absolutely right that we do it on the terms that are right for Swansea City and if people value the player at higher then what can we do?