Swansea City are finding themselves amidst boardroom disruption as a complete overhaul at Southampton continues. Discussions were left at stalemate last night between the Swans and the Saints for compensation for Russell Martin who has verbally agreed to join the south coast of England club.
The Swans have resigned themselves to losing Russell Martin, which to be honest fits in with their future plans, but the fight for compensation continues. And that’s exactly what it is turning in to. Russell Martin should take note as well because Southampton’s board are split on where they are with regards their finances next season.
Sport Republic are now taking total control of the Saints with CEO Martin Semmens leaving St Mary’s and Serbian Dragan Å olak overseeing matters. He is a key figure at Sport Republic.Chairman Henrik Kraft remains, but it’s a whole load of mess that is affecting the Swans discussions for compensation. So, what does this mean for Swansea City and more importantly Russell Martin ? The current Swans head coach was Semmens choice to replace present incumbent Rubén Sellés. Semmens has now gone, and major organisational change could affect Martin’s spending when his appointment is confirmed …
This latest news has taken Southampton’s eye off the ball and the Swans are keen to get the matter sorted out so they can progress with their own managerial replacement. Let’s be honest Russell Martin has done well at the Swans on a very low budget by comparison to Southampton’s, even if they carefully lower their finances for this season.
But Martin needs to take stock on promises he is made by the Saints, especially as he will want guarantees for his own players coming in. Swansea want eight hundred thousand pounds for Martin and his staff and this is the sticking point this morning. If Martin is left with a far smaller budget he can kiss goodbye to signing Joel Piroe and Matt Grimes. The Swans will push hard for at least twelve million pounds for the pair. They won’t get it, but why not start there ? News as it stands is this ‘possibly’ is not going to affect Martin joining Southampton, but we should remember nothing is determined currently. The compensation shouldn’t worry Southampton, but they still will bargain hard despite Swansea City remaining in a strong position.
The other issue regards Russell Martin’s compensation is that he has a ‘split contract’ and that includes the club he moves to being in either the premier league or the championship. Swansea are prepared to fight for this higher fee as the Saints are currently in the premier league.
We still expect Martin and numerous staff to be confirmed at St Mary’s in time, however today nothing is in place. Within a few hours we will have the latest news on Paul Watson’s situation as ‘head of football operations’ at Swansea City, and indeed Nathan Jones.