Russell Martin reveals stumbling block in Swansea’s pursuit of 21-year-old League One player | OneFootball

Swansea City manager Russell Martin has confirmed his transfer interest in Milton Keynes Dons midfielder Matt O’Riley – but insists players need to depart his club before he can attempt to sign the youngster.

Martin signed the ex-Fulham player last January for the Dons after he was a free agent for a number of months, but he’s really flourished this season in League One under the former Scotland international’s successor in Liam Manning.

The 21-year-old has scored seven times in the third tier of English football in the current campaign and added four assists to that tally, and he’s unsurprisingly attracting interest from many Championship outfits.

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Matt Grimes

Bradford City Lincoln City Doncaster Rovers Exeter City

Blackburn Rovers, Middlesbrough and Huddersfield are just some of the domestic clubs who want to do a deal for O’Riley but there’s also overseas interest from Anderlecht, Bordeaux, Venezia and PSV according to The Sun.

Martin though is keen to reunite with O’Riley and bring him to South Wales – but player sales would need to occur first to raise the funds for such a deal.

“Matt O’Riley is a fantastic player but he’s an MK Dons player,” Martin said, per WalesOnline.

He would be a permanent addition that would take a certain level of investment for him to become a player away from MK Dons.

“Before we do any business, especially permanently, it will take investment coming in.

“The club is in a very different position financially than it has been for the last, however long, and we have to respect that and make sure that we’re planning accordingly.”

The Verdict

With no parachute payments to work with anymore, Swansea have had to cut their cloth accordingly in recent months.

That doesn’t mean they can’t spend money – Joel Piroe came in for a seven-figure fee in the summer – but the sales of Jamal Lowe and Connor Roberts helped with that.

You’d imagine that a few sales now would have to go through for the club to be able to afford O’Riley, with the likes of Jake Bidwell and Yan Dhanda linked with moves away from the Swansea.com Stadium recently.

They could be the ones that help facilitate a move for the youngster but despite Martin being a huge fan of him they will face an awful amount of competition for his services.