Swansea City Face Competition For Routledge

Swansea City may have had a bid accepted for Newcastle United winger Wayne Routledge but they face strong competition to secure his services for next season.

Brendan Rodgers is looking to strengthen his squad for the new Premiership campaign and he is looking to bring in the 26 year-old after having a £1.8m offer accepted by the Magpies.

The Swans can now talk to the player, but Championship sides Nottingham Forest and Leicester City are also hoping to sign the winger, with the Foxes in particular, favourites to sign him as they'll most likely offer more attractive personal terms.

Will the lure of Premiership football at Swansea City be greater than that of higher wages at Leicester? Maybe not when Routledge is concerned as he's been known to follow the money during his career.

Brendan Rodgers has conceded that other clubs will be able to offer higher wages:

"He (Routledge) has to make his mind up about what he wants to do because I`m sure there are a host of clubs after him - but he would fit into our style.

"We`ll be in the market for certain types of players and pay certain salaries.

"And you can see already that teams in the Championship are able to pay a lot more than us. That`s the nature of it, so life goes on."

Rodgers also said signing Routledge is still a 'long way off':

'A fee has been agreed between the clubs, but there is still a lot of work to do.

'The agreement on the fee allows us to speak to the player and to try to convince him this can be a good place for him.

'With the style of football we play and the environment here, I think it could be a great place for Wayne to kick on and develop.

'He is in his mid-20s and he still has a lot to offer, but we have to agree personal terms first. That's the hard bit.'

Routledge is still unsure where he'll be at next season, he wrote on his twitter page:

'People, I honestly have no idea yet where I will be playing my football next season,' he wrote.

'It's frustrating, but all I can do is train hard, get my fitness up and take each day as it comes. When I know so will you.'

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