Russell Martin: Swansea City owners 'express interest' in new deal for head coach
- Published
Joel Piroe's stoppage-time goal against West Brom ensured Swansea finished the season with seven wins from their last nine games
Head coach Russell Martin says new Swansea City chairman Andy Coleman has indicated the club are keen to extend his contract.
Martin's current deal runs out next summer but he has repeatedly said he would be happy to sign a new long-term agreement.
Coleman has spoken to Martin after buying a stake in the Championship club and being named chairman last Friday.
"He [Coleman] said he likes what we're doing," Martin said.
"He's said the ownership group have expressed an interest in trying to extend the contract, so we'll have to wait and see.
"There's maybe other priorities at the moment but we'll see. I have a year left. We've got guys out of contract, so that's got to be a real priority.
"Whatever comes first, I don't know. We'll just have to wait and see."
Swansea said American businessman Coleman will move with his family to Wales and has taken charge of the day-to-day running of the club with immediate effect.
The futures of player-of-the-year Ryan Manning, Joel Latibeaudiere and Kyle Naughton are all on the immediate agenda as they are out of contract this summer.
But Martin feels the club need to sort out his long-term future at some point because that will have an impact on what happens to his players.
The former Scotland defender, 37, has been touted as a managerial target for Leicester City should they be relegated from the Premier League.
Martin's Swansea side have come through a traumatic season to finish 10th thanks to an impressive nine-game unbeaten run to conclude the campaign, with West Bromwich Albion beaten 3-2 on the final day of the regular season.
"I think I've been linked with a few jobs since I've been here," Martin said.
"I make the same of that as I did when we spoke about that in October, when we had our last nice run. I wasn't linked with anyone when we were on a tough run.
"I've said to you all along, we love being here, our families are really settled, we love working with the people we're working with.
"The club's biggest strength is the people here on the ground. It's amazing how much they've bought into us and what we're doing."
Swansea end the season five points better off and five places higher than in 2021-22, and only three points outside the play-off places.
Martin says he will feel "frustrated" after coming within a whisker of the top six, adding: "I think everyone will be.
"But it's also testament to the hard work we have put in that we have improved on last season in pretty much every way, with definitely less tools than we had last season.
"We lost really key players but the way the guys have stepped up has been incredible."