Transfer news – Swansea resigned to losing Angel Rangel
Published:Swansea appear to be losing their battle to hold on to Spanish full-back Angel Rangel, who is a transfer target for Premier League newcomers Blackpool.
Rangel is out of contract next year and the Swans, who are 11/2 to win promotion this season, are losing hope of tying the defender down to a longer deal at the Liberty Stadium.
“I think the club are trying to persuade Angel to open talks over a new contract,” one of the club’s coaches, Alan Curtis, said.
“But obviously the lure of playing in the Premier League is something he is probably going to find very difficult to turn down.”
Having joined from Spanish side Terrassa in 2007, Rangel has made 121 for Swansea, and the 27-year-old was the subject of a failed bid from Fulham in January.
Rangel criticised Swans chairman Huw Jenkins at the time, saying that Jenkins had “stopped me improving my career”, but the Spaniard now looks set to further himself at Blackpool.
Financial strife continues at Swansea’s rivals Cardiff City, meanwhile, as Dave Jones has revealed that the club has turned down bids from Ipswich for Michael Chopra.
Cardiff still owe part of the £4m they paid Sunderland for Chopra, and Jones has explained that he was unable to accept Ipswich’s offers because they did not cover the Bluebirds’ debts to the North East club.
Jones’s side are priced at 5/1 to be promoted but, with a transfer embargo imposed on the club, their preparations for the new season have been far from ideal.
Nottingham Forest, 8/1 to win the Championship title, are to allow their second choice goalkeeper Paul Smith to leave the City Ground.
Smith joined Forest from Southampton for a fee of £500,000 in 2006, but the 30-year-old has found his path to the first team blocked by Lee Camp.
Who do you think will win promotion this season? Reading are 4/1 to go up. See the full Championship 2010/11 Betting Odds market.
