Freddie Woodman: Swansea City keen to keep goalkeeper at Liberty Stadium
- Published
Head coach Steve Cooper wants to keep Freddie Woodman at Swansea City and believes the goalkeeper is keen to stay.
Woodman, 22, has excelled since joining Swansea on a season-long loan from Newcastle United in August 2019.
But the ex-England Under-21 international is due to return to Tyneside in May and his Newcastle contract runs until 2021.
"We would all love Freddie to stay for longer than the season," Cooper said.
"Whether that's possible, we will have a look in the summer. I think he'd definitely like to.
"The affection the fans have shown Freddie, I think he really feels it and likes to show it back because the feeling is mutual."
Woodman was allowed to leave Newcastle as there were three senior goalkeepers - Martin Dubravka, Karl Darlow and Rob Eliot - in front of him at St James' Park and he has played every league game for Swansea in 2019-20.
Before sanctioning Woodman's move to Wales, Newcastle extended his contract by a year - his previously deal expired in 2020 - in order to protect their asset.
It could be that the Magpies are prepared to sell Woodman come the summer, but Swansea may struggle to fund a deal unless they win promotion to the Premier League this season.
Cooper, who was speaking at a fans' forum, also revealed that German keeper Steven Benda will be part of his plans next term.
The 21-year-old is currently on a season-long loan at Swindon Town and has impressed with the League Two leaders.
"Steven Benda is getting really good game-time at Swindon who are doing well. He's getting priceless experience really," Cooper said.
"He'll definitely fall back into our first-team squad next season. Whether it's as number one or two remains to be seen..
"If Freddie is with us or not, we've definitely got a really good young goalkeeper in Steven and hopefully we can maximise that with him next season."
Swansea allowed second-choice keeper Kristoffer Nordfeldt to join Genclerbirligi earlier this month.
His exit has seen experienced Dutchman Erwin Mulder promoted to No. 2 stopper behind Woodman, but it could be that he leaves as well when his contract expires at the end of this campaign.