Swansea City will be glad they made Liam Cullen call on Sunderland evidence | OneFootball

Since handing Liam Cullen a new deal he has been in excellent form for both club and country

Swansea City surrendered a 2-0 lead at home to Sunderland to lose 3-2 on the weekend, and while Luke Williams was a frustrated figure afterwards, the performance of one man would surely have impressed him.

Liam Cullen doubled the Swans' advantage with a lovely free-kick, continuing his rich vein of form in recent weeks which has seen him become the main man for Swansea in terms of goals.

Cullen put pen-to-paper on a new deal with Swansea at the end of October, meaning he's contracted until the summer of 2028 and, given his form in recent weeks, it looks like perfect timing.

The 25-year-old has impressed at both Championship and international level, and the free-kick against Sunderland capped off what's been a real whirlwind couple of weeks which has seen his stock rise like never before, and Swansea will be glad they've got him tied down.

Swansea City will be relieved Liam Cullen has signed a new deal

Cullen's deal was set to expire at the end of this season after the club triggered a 12-month extension back in April, with Williams challenging the Welshman to prove he was worth a long-term extension.

He certainly has done that this season, and had Swansea not given Cullen a new deal in October he would almost certainly be on the radar of plenty of Championship sides, and the club could have found it harder to agree fresh terms with him.

Cullen has scored six goals in his last seven games for club and country, including a brace for Wales in their 4-1 win over Iceland in the Nations League, and this is by far the most prolific spell he's had in senior football.

The Welshman has previously been linked with Championship clubs like Blackburn Rovers,Hull City and Stoke City, while it was reported by Pete O'Rourke that a number of unnamed Championship clubs were keen on him in the summer.

Cullen has always been someone who'd chip in with a couple of goals, but until now he's never been a prolific goalscorer, so considering the interest he's received before, you'd have thought he wouldn't be short of options now that he's scoring regularly for both club and country.

Swansea will be thanking their lucky stars that Cullen signed a new deal before embarking on the form of his life because their chances of keeping him could well have been slim if he hadn't already put pen-to-paper, and he could well have commanded a heftier wage too.

His free-kick against Sunderland was the pick of the bunch, but the 25-year-old has come on leaps and bounds this season, and can now be relied upon to score goals regularly.

Positional switch has benefited Liam Cullen hugely at Swansea City

In recent weeks, Cullen has been used deeper, with Zan Vipotnik being used as an out-and-out striker, and it's certainly getting the best of the Welshman.

Cullen has shown that he's got a creative side to his game, setting up Ronald for a goal with a lovely through ball away to Derby County a couple of weeks ago, and his workrate off the ball has been exceptional too.

Wales manager Craig Bellamy is a big fan of Cullen, telling him "you do not fail to impress me" after his goalscoring exploits against Iceland, and he looks set to be a starter for both club and country in the coming months.

There had been question marks over whether Cullen was good enough to be a starter in the Championship, but he's certainly answered those critics recently and Swansea's decision to give him a long-term deal in October is proving to be a masterstroke.