Swansea City to Up the Ante for Mark Davies

Earlier this week, Swansea City reportedly put in a bid for young midfielder, Mark Davies. Bolton Wanderers rejected this bid, but it was rumoured to have been in the £4mil range. The club is supposedly holding out for twice that, but Swansea seem prepared to launch another bid in Sparky's direction.

Of course, neither club has commented explicitly about the situation, but Swansea chairman, Huw Jenkins has said that "Mark Davies is a good young player who we have talked about for a number of months." The Swans will likely be in a position to spend the big bucks Bolton is asking, as Joe Allen is looking to leave the club for a minimum of £10mil. talks between the club and Allen are scheduled for today, and it seems likely he will either move to Liverpool or Tottenham.

Things are a little more complicated from the Bolton end of things. While Davies should definitely be sold if the price is right, a club in Bolton's position cannot afford to give up cash like this, there is a question of how much of that money would actually be going to Bolton. The Trotters bought Davies from Wolverhampton Wanderers for £1mil in 2009, but there appears to be a sell-on clause in that contract, meaning that Wolves would receive a percentage of any profit over £1mil made by Bolton.

Owen Coyle did make a comment, but as expected he didn't specifically mention the sale in any way,

"I had a chat with Mark prior to the game and told him that he'd done all his fitness work , and even though these games are designed to get us ready for August 18, he's got to start putting it together. We've got a young team, loaded with pace, and I think it was important that we saw him take the game by the scruff of the neck. And he did.

"I don't ever expect players to come in and click their fingers and for it all to be sorted. Everyone wants to come in and win all their pre-season games. But you've got to show a progression and learn good habits to take into the new season. The important thing is that you are ready to peak on August 18, and I think that was Mark's best game for a while."

Mark Davies is a talented young player, and I think he could still give quite a bit to the club, but if he wants to leave and the price is right, it an obvious move for the club. Davies might want the move to return to the Premiership, as well as the fact that he may lose his starting spot when Stuart Holden returns. I would be sad to see Sparky go, but these are the dangers of supporting a club like Bolton.