Swansea City's owners are desperate to keep hold of Gylfi Sigurdsson this summer, and are prepared to turn down record bids for the midfielder.
Swansea majority shareholder Steve Kaplan has been speaking to local media, and revealed that the club has received enquiries about the Icelandic international but they do not want to sell the player.
The news came about after reports claimed that Everton had agreed a fee with Swansea for the sale of Sigurdsson for around £25 million.
What did Kaplan say?
Kaplan said: “We all know how important Gylfi is, there's been interest in him before – there were some pretty big enquiries about him last summer and in the January window – but we didn't want to sell him then and we don't want to sell him now.”
He continued by saying that he and the club plan to build on a successful end to the season, and that includes keeping hold of their best players.
The American said: “Neither do we need to sell him. He has three years on his contract and he's part of our plans going forward under Paul Clement.”
A club spokesman also told local media that there has been “no contact” between Swansea and Everton.
How much is Sigurdsson worth?
Sigurdsson is one of the main reasons why Swansea retained their Premier League status this season, scoring vital goals. He finished the season with nine goals and 13 assists.
Per Whoscored, Swansea rank third in terms of goals scored from set-pieces this season with 17 behind Chelsea (22) and West Brom (20), which has largely been down to Sigurdsson’s ability from dead-balls.
While Sigurdsson-to-Fernando Llorente is the best assist-to-goalscorer return (six goals) in the Premier League this season, a partnership that the club will be desperate to retain.
Everton would likely see Sigurdsson as a direct replacement for Ross Barkley, who increasingly looks like he could leave the club.
It’s unlikely to happen, but Sigurdsson should be worth more than Barkley in this current market. The Swansea midfielder has done more with less and more importantly, his current club seem like they actually want him to stick around, which can’t quite be said the same for Barkley.
Sigurdsson has also come out and stated his desire to stay at the club recently, but football has show how quickly players' heads can turn.
Swansea’s record sale was Wilfried Bony to Manchester City for around £28 million in January 2015, a fee that Everton would surely have to surpass for the Welsh side to pay attention.