Brendan Rodgers has already outlined why Swansea City should re-sign Stoke City's Joe Allen

The thought of seeing Joe Allen in a Swansea City shirt next season is a tantalising one.

Swansea have brought players back to SA1 before, but this move would be up there with Leon Britton's return from his ill-fated move to Sheffield United in 2010. Having boyhood club players representing your team means that bit more to supporters, which is why figures such as Ben Davies, Joe Rodon and Connor Roberts are held in such high regard in these parts, despite moving on to pastures new. Allen falls into the same category.

He made his big breakthrough under Roberto Martinez but it was perhaps his two seasons with Brendan Rodgers in SA1 that linger long in the memory.

He was then a near ever-present as Rodgers’ side won promotion to the Premier League in the 2010-11 season, playing 40 times during the regular campaign as well as starting both legs of the play-off semi-final against Nottingham Forest and the 4-2 victory over Reading in the final at Wembley. Quite simply, Allen was made for Rodgers' brand of football.

In the top flight, he scored four times in 36 games as Swansea finished in a highly creditable 11th place. When Rodgers left, he took Allen with him to Anfield. The Welshman would stay on Merseyside longer than his manager but when Rodgers was linked with a return to SA1 during Francesco Guidolin's tenure, Allen was a player he wanted back in the white of Swansea.

As we well know, that reunion didn't transpire but Rodgers' affection for the 32-year-old remained. Last year, before Stoke faced Rodgers' Leicester City in the FA Cup, the Northern Irishman summed up Allen perfectly - as a player and as a person - hammering home the reasons why Swansea should bring him back to Swansea.

“Joe was an amazing player for