Swansea City deserve credit for 9-year Matt Grimes transfer situation: View | OneFootball

Swansea City have been able to keep Matt Grimes at the club despite attracting plenty of transfer interest over the years

His time in South Wales may have taken a couple of years to really get going but Swansea City skipper Matt Grimes has become his side's main man in recent years and he will reach a decade at the club later this season.

Swansea signed Grimes as a youngster from then League Two side Exeter City for a fee of just £1.75millon in January 2015 and over the next decade he's become a key player, particularly since their relegation from the Premier League in 2018.

The Swans are into their seventh consecutive season in the Championship and Luke Williams is their fifth permanent manager since their 2018 relegation but Grimes has remained ever-present and has become one of the best central midfielders in the division.

The 29-year-old hasn't been short of transfer interest in the past, from clubs in the Championship and the Premier League, but Swansea have managed to keep hold of Grimes, much to the delight of the Jack Army.

Grimes has shown he's a quality operator at Championship level and has been Swansea's captain since the summer of 2019 when Steve Cooper handed him the armband. His performance levels haven't gone unnoticed by other clubs, with him seemingly being linked with a move away almost every summer.

It started in 2020 when Watford, who had just been relegated from the Premier League, were linked with a move for the Swans' skipper, according to Wales Online, and further interest was to follow.

The 2020/21 season saw Grimes skipper Swansea to the verge of the Premier League, but a play-off final loss condemned them to the Championship, and that summer felt like a real watershed moment for the club.

Swansea were no longer receiving parachute payments, which meant they had to reduce their spending after missing out on promotion to the top flight, and Cooper departed, along with the likes of Andre Ayew, Connor Roberts and Jamal Lowe.

It felt as if Grimes would follow, and the likes of Newcastle United, Brighton, Fulham, and Southampton were interested in him, according to Football Insider and The Chronicle. However, the midfielder remained in South Wales, and penned a new deal at the club a couple of months later, much to the surprise, but relief of Swansea's support.

There was further transfer interest last summer after Russell Martin's move to Southampton, with Martin keen to reunite with him, but yet again, Grimes signed a new deal at Swansea instead of leaving, with the club very keen to do anything possible to ensure he remains in south Wales.

There were brief links with Sheffield United earlier this summer but most Swansea fans shrugged them off, such is the regularity that Grimes is linked with moves away.

Grimes has shown incredible loyalty to remain in South Wales and the club have to be praised too for handing him new contracts after interest from elsewhere.

Swansea have seen plenty of star players come and go in recent years but Grimes has always remained, much to the delight of the Jack Army.

Matt Grimes is just so important to Swansea City

Since their relegation to the Championship in 2018, Swansea have played 280 games, and incredibly, Grimes has played 276 of those.

The 2022/23 season was the only time that the 29-year-old has missed more than one game for Swansea, missing two through injury and suspension, and he's played the full 90 minutes for Swansea in every league game since the beginning of March 2023.

Grimes is the heartbeat of Swansea's team, and while he may not always be the flashiest, he helps set the tempo and does so much unheralded work to put them on the front foot.

If Grimes is fit, he starts, and it would be hard to imagine a modern-day Swansea side without him in the middle.

It's a far cry from his early days as a Swansea City player, when he spent time on loan with Blackburn Rovers, Leeds, and Northampton Town, and had it not been for the club being short of players after relegation, he likely would have departed.

The 29-year-old seems happy and settled at Swansea and probably knows he wouldn't be able to play every single minute of every game if he moved elsewhere, so life in SA1 suits him to a tee.

Swansea deserve huge credit for being unwilling to cash in on Grimes and offering him new deals to ensure he stays at the Swansea.com Stadium. It's clear that the club's hierarchy knows how important he is.

Grimes will reach 10 years as a Swansea City player in January, and the Jack Army will be hoping that there are many more to come.