Swansea City winger Dan James says he’s keen to sign a new contract at the Liberty Stadium after his FA Cup heroics against Brentford on Sunday afternoon.
James played a huge role in our comeback win in the fifth round. After Bersant Celina’s equaliser from a direct free-kick, James went on a superb 80-yard solo run to put us in front. He then forced a last-man foul that saw the Bees go down to ten men and from there, there was only likely to be one winner.
The 21-year-old was the absolute star of the show, running riot against Brentford who simply had no answer for him in the second half. They dominated the first 45 minutes but fell apart as Graham Potter’s side pulled themselves together after a timid-looking start.
James was the subject of a loan move to Leeds United on deadline day but it fell through at the final hour. The winger had travelled north to complete the move but it proved to be Huw Jenkins’ last move as Swansea chairman when he got involved and put a stop to proceedings. There were also reports suggesting that Leeds had changed their payment arrangements concerning the £1.5m loan fee.
Contrary to reports at the time, Dan James never expressed a desire to leave the club and join Leeds as Vital Swansea understands that it wasn’t his wishes to leave and rather a move he had to settle for. Our American owners, despite Chris Pearlman’s comments in his recent programme notes, were prepared to offload one of our biggest talents on loan, with a potential permanent move in the Summer providing that Leeds achieved promotion to the Premier League.
This would have left Graham Potter lacking pace in his side and Huw Jenkins was forced to get involved and put a stop to proceedings which later saw him resign as chairman two days later.
The 2-0 defeat at Bristol City followed and with James missing after a lack of training leading up to the game, you could see in that game just how much we missed his pace and trickery in wide areas.
After the 4-1 win that puts us into tonight’s Quarter-Final draw, James said:
“I’ve got 18 months left on my contract so I’m just concentrating on playing. There are new contract talks under way and I’m enjoying my football here.”
“Yes. I love every second of it here. [when asked if he’d like to sign a new contract at Swansea].
“Playing for this club has been amazing and the way the gaffer has brought me through has been fantastic.”
This is great news for us as at least it guarantees that we are more in control in terms of getting the right price for him if or when he attracts interest in the Summer. He has 18 months left on his current contract but that will be on weekly wages significantly less than those of his senior team-mates.
