Michael Laudrup, the Swansea manager, insisted there had been no progress over Scott Sinclair's proposed move to Manchester City, despite leaving the winger out of the side who inflicted an emphatic beating on West Ham.
Sinclair has told Swansea he does not want to sign a new contract at the Welsh club, and with less than a year left on his current deal he looks set to leave before the end of the transfer window. City have made an offer for the 23-year-old, believed to be around the £5m mark, but Laudrup says his omission from the squad is not a sign that a deal has been agreed.
The manager said: "Last week after the game [against QPR] I said it was no problem bringing him into the squad. He did a good job, he came off the bench and he scored.
"There are a lot of things going on around Scott and I spoke with him and we decided it was better for everyone that he did not participate at all in the game. We know things can move fast in this game but we will wait until Monday to see where things stand. We know it could go on until Friday evening. If he is still here after that he will be in the squad next Saturday, if he is not, he is not. There is a lot of interest in Scott. I really don't know if he will be here after Friday but everything is possible. It is possible he stays, it is possible he leaves."
While the off-field focus is on Sinclair, on the pitch Swansea turned in another impressive performance. Goals from Angel Rangel, Michu and Danny Graham secured a comfortable victory, although West Ham were guilty of gifting their hosts two of those goals thanks to errors from Jussi Jaaskelainen and James Collins.
Jaaskelainen could only divert Rangel's low ball across the box into his own net, while Collins, who had a torrid afternoon, was guilty of a woeful back-pass for Michu's effort. But Swansea made the most of those chances and their second-half display exhibited the swagger shown in their 5-0 victory at QPR last weekend when Laudrup's players looked superb going forward.
Nathan Dyer and Wayne Routledge suggested that Sinclair may not be badly missed as the pair revelled in the freedom afforded them by Laudrup. The Dane praised their displays: "We have small players in Wayne and Nathan who can turn fast with the ball.
"They are so fast turning with the ball and they create so many problems for defenders. They get in between the defensive lines and that makes them very dangerous."
Swansea were on top of the division in the afternoon, the first time they had been there in over 30 years. Laudrup knew Chelsea would make it a short visit to the summit later in the evening, but hoped the fans enjoyed it.
"It is great for the supporters and they have to enjoy it. I said it the other day, it's a dream, but for us on the pitch we can't permit ourselves to dream, we have to live in reality, but let's enjoy today."
Sam Allardyce readily admitted that the first-half mistakes from Jaaskelainen and the Wales international Collins had cost his side any chance of getting something out of the game.
The West Ham manager said: "We have been punished severely for two very big errors by Jussi and James. Mistakes by our two most experienced players, who have a huge amount of experience in this league, have cost us the game.
"We could not overcome them and Swansea ran out comfortable winners. We have to take it on the chin and make sure we don't make those errors again as in this league you will be punished for them.
"With James he just has to kick the ball back properly. It is a simple exercise, he could do it 1,000 times and not get it wrong. It looked like he stubbed the ball into the ground and it didn't have enough to get back to Jussi. And the first error was a gift as it was an easy save for Jussi and it went in off his arm."
Read more... Swansea City 3-0 West Ham United | Premier League match report
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