Swansea City have announced their retained list following the disappointment of last week’s Championship play-off final defeat.
The Swans were beaten 2-0 by Brentford at Wembley. It means they will spend a fourth consecutive campaign outside the top flight – and they are now cutting their cloth accordingly.
Four senior players will leave when their contracts expire later this summer, with club record signing Andre Ayew the most high-profile.
Ayew earns a reported wage of £80,000 per week – by far the highest salary in the Championship. He has actually signed twice for Swansea; once on a free transfer in 2015 and again in 2018 for a sum of £18million.
Between those two spells he joined West Ham for a fee of £20.5million. He leaves Swansea for a second time with a record of 35 goals in 106 games.
Prior to the play-off final, Ayew spoke about how much he has enjoyed this past season.
Speaking to the Athletic, he said: “For me, being in this squad has been marvellous.
“A lot of people, whether family or friends, say, ‘Why are you staying in the Championship?’.
“After my first year with Steve Cooper (the head coach) and this squad of players, I really felt something special here in my inner self and also with what we can achieve.”
Fellow players Kieron Freeman, Declan John and Barrie McKay will also be leaving when their deals run out.
Meanwhile, loanee trio Freddie Woodman, Marc Guehi and Conor Hourihane have all returned to their parent clubs of Newcastle, Chelsea and Aston Villa respectively after all impressing and helping the side to Wembley.
However, the Swans’ longest-serving player Wayne Routledge has been offered a one-year extension and could extend his stay into an 11th year at the club.
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