Swansea City chief sets the record straight over Jamie Paterson amid swirling speculation

Julian Winter has stated Jamie Paterson never refused to play nor did he ever ask to leave Swansea City during his contract dispute with the club's owners.

The attacker missed all five of his side's Championship fixtures in January after stating he was not in the right frame of mind to take to the field.

It comes after the club triggered a one-year extension option in the 30-year-old's contract - with the player himself left disappointed that the terms of his initial deal were not improved.

Queens Park Rangers were among the clubs to show an interest in the former Bristol City man during the January transfer window, although Swansea rejected three bids from the Londoners.

The night before Swansea's Championship clash with Blackburn Rovers, Paterson took to social media to give an update on his return to action.

He posted on Instagram: "Looking forward to be back doing what I love most."

And Swansea's chief executive Winter went on to stress that Paterson - who had a brief period of training with the club's under-23s - was never fined during his absence from first team proceedings.

"As everyone is aware, Jamie Paterson returned to first team training this week after a difficult period at the club," he said in his programme notes.

"There was a lot of speculation that he could have departed in the January transfer window and while there were offers for him, these fell well short of our valuation.

"It has been well documented that Jamie wasn't in the right frame of mind to play over the past few weeks, but the club has been supportive of him and his situation, and staff at the training ground have been unequivocal in their backing as well as his relationship with Russell (Martin) remaining strong.

"He never once asked for