Andre Ayew: Swansea City forward focused on promotion, not his future
- Published
Andre Ayew has scored 25 goals in 64 Swansea appearances under Steve Cooper
Andre Ayew says he is not contemplating his future beyond this season because his sole focus is helping Swansea City return to the Premier League.
The 30-year-old's lucrative Swansea contract is set to expire at the end of 2020-21.
The influential forward says speculation about his future will not affect him.
"I have the experience to handle this kind of situation," said Ghana captain Ayew.
"The most important thing for me, I want to be somewhere where I can express myself and where I can play the best football.
"I feel that I'm very happy here, I'm good here and playing well (and) the team is playing well. You don't know the future but what you know is that I am happy here and that's why I'm still here."
Ayew, Swansea's leading scorer this season with seven goals, will spearhead their bid for south Wales derby success at Cardiff City on Saturday.
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Swansea, who were then in the Premier League, paid a club-record £18m to re-sign Ayew from West Ham United in January 2018.
He could not save the club from relegation that season and spent the following campaign on loan at Fenerbahce in Turkey, but has been Swansea's star performer since returning to Wales in the summer of 2019.
Ayew says he has since received "a few" offers to leave the Liberty Stadium but that none felt like the right move.
"I would not leave where I feel good, where I am happy, where we're training good, where the players and the staff and the fans have a lot of confidence in me. It has to take something very good for me to just wake up and leave," he said.
Ayew's salary - he is Swansea's top earner by a distance - means it is inevitable he will depart next summer unless the club are promoted back to the top flight.
The Swans would also have to consider any reasonable offer for their talisman in the mid-season transfer window, although Ayew does not expect to move in January.
"I can't say what's going to happen in the future but if I'm here it's because there's planning to stay a whole season," he said.
"I just need to focus on what I am doing - it's here. When you have people that give you so much love and so much confidence you have to give it back, and the only way I can give it back is on the pitch, so that's the only thing I'm focused on.
"I'm not thinking on beyond my contract. I'm just thinking how I can make sure Swansea get back into the Premier League."