Swans ready to support Montero

12 December 2014 13:46

Swansea manager Garry Monk says the Barclays Premier League club will comply with any Spanish match-fixing investigation which could involve their Ecuador winger Jefferson Montero.

The 25-year-old summer signing from Morelia was on loan at Levante three years ago and their 2-1 defeat to Real Zaragoza on the final day of the 2010-11 Primera Division season is currently facing scrutiny from Spanish prosecutors.

The winger could be interviewed as a witness as one of the players who played in that match.

"The club's not had any contacts from any authorities whatsoever and I'm not sure how much truth is in that (story)," Monk said.

"But if it is and the right authorities get in touch with us then we'll deal with that when it comes.

"At this moment in time have had no contact and it's not alarming because I'm not sure of the details.

"With a situation like that it's not necessarily them (the players) involved. I've seen it before where they might want to speak to the whole team involved in a game - players, staff, management - at that time whatever it is."

Swansea seek to bounce back from their 3-1 defeat at West Ham at home to Tottenham on Sunday - a club they have not beaten in six Barclays Premier League attempts.

Indeed, Swansea have lost five of those games but Monk says he does not see the visit of Mauricio Pochettino's side as a psychological hurdle.

"They're not a bogey side, they're a good team," Monk said.

"When you play against teams with that kind of power it will always be difficult.

"We could have won here in our first season (in the Premier League) and they were holding on.

"Yes we can get three points against them, but they'll be thinking the same."

The game pits Gylfi Sigurdsson and Ben Davies against their former clubs with Swansea having had by far the best so far from a summer swap deal which also saw Dutch goalkeeper Michel Vorm move to Tottenham.

Icelandic international Sigurdsson has scored twice and had eight assists in the Premier League this season - second only to Chelsea's Cesc Fabregas - since rejoining Swansea for a second spell, while Wales defender Davies has just recently broken into the Spurs first-team and Vorm is very much understudy to the France goalkeeper Hugo Lloris at White Hart Lane.

"People talk in hindsight about the deal, but I just felt we needed the attacking player like Gylfi," said Monk.

"In terms of losing Ben, it was the risk of losing someone at that position to gain someone in the attacking position.

"It's proved a good decision but it wasn't about who was getting the better of the deal.

"What we're seeing from Gylfi is the reason I wanted him. I knew him and he's come back a better player.

"When I knew I had the chance (to sign him) I pushed for it and this is the reason why, he's effective in the position he plays and his contribution has been fantastic.

"I don't think he hold grudges against Tottenham, he loved the club and had a fantastic time.

"Yes, he wanted to play more than he did but he developed at Tottenham as a player.

"Maybe he has the motivation to prove people wrong and show them what he can do and, hopefully, we can see it more from Gylfi and on the weekend."

Swansea could certainly do with a lift after being bullied by Andy Carroll and company at West Ham, surrendering a lead once again to slip to eighth spot, where they are one point and two places better off than Tottenham.

Monk's men have now lost a league-high 16 points from winning positions but the manager says there are mitigating circumstances in that damaging statistic.

"It's a valid question to a point but a lot of situations that happen in games are not always in your control, so the total is a bit misleading," said Monk.

"At certain times we can manage the games better and come away with more points but we're still in a good position.

"We've not been outside the top eight so far and that shows we're doing things right.

"It's the first time last week where we didn't warrant any points because other games where we've dropped points we've deserved more.

"It's not something that's playing on our minds but we spoke quite honestly after the West Ham game that we weren't at the standards we've set.

"We didn't reach them so we've got to put to bed a performance that we weren't happy with."

Source: PA