‘There was only one club’ – Club chairman defends decision to sell player to Spurs

Swansea chairman Julian Winter has defended his club’s decision to sell Joe Rodon to Tottenham Hotspur on transfer deadline day.

Tottenham and Swansea were initially unable to agree on a fee for the central defender but the deal moved quickly after a breakthrough was reached on the final day of the EFL window (Football.London).

The 23-year-old was very highly rated very highly at the Championship side and it looked like the North Londoners had picked up quite a bargain after it emerged that they had agreed on a deal worth just £11m (plus add-ons) for the young defender.

Some Swansea fans on social media were absolutely livid at the rumoured fee, with many insisting that he was worth twice or three times that amount.

However, Winter admitted that the Welsh club were not in a position to negotiate a higher transfer fee since no other club had shown interest in Rodon.

When asked if Swansea were short-changed by Spurs in the Rodon deal, he told Radio Wales Sport (as relayed by BBC Sport): “I can understand that, but you have to take a view at the time that you’re in it and there wasn’t a big market for Joe.

“There was only one club in for Joe. (That reduced Swansea’s) ability to negotiate better fees with other clubs.

“We did try with a couple of other clubs, but that wasn’t going anywhere.

“We got to a point where in order to create a deeper squad with the permanents (signings) that we brought in, I think that’s great for the club for the longer term.

“Obviously we’ve still got loans – the loans have been great for us – but you need to start to develop a stronger base in the sense of more permanent players with us.

“So younger, developable ones, some experienced ones – the likes of Ryan Bennett, who brings a level of experience, a set of skills, history with promotions and playing in the Premier League.

“And when you add it all together, you have to take a view and we took a view that the deal for Joe isn’t a bad deal.

“It isn’t as good as people might have expected, but the market is, was, strange and I think going into January, will be even stranger, probably through to the summer because clubs are going to be operating with less resources. It’s as simple as that.”

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