Cyrus Christie: Fulham defender took pay cut to join Swansea City on loan
- Published
Cyrus Christie's most recent appearance came in the Republic of Ireland's friendly win over Qatar in October 2021
Cyrus Christie took a pay cut to join Swansea City on loan this week, head coach Russell Martin has revealed.
The Fulham defender is poised for a Swansea debut in Saturday's Championship game at Huddersfield Town.
And Martin has praised the attitude of the Republic of Ireland international for helping to get the deal done.
"It has taken a little while to do and eventually Cyrus has had to sacrifice a bit of money to come here," said Martin.
"I think it shows brilliant intent from him and [it] is why people were suggesting it (the move) might be off.
"But he was always confident it was going to get done. It was about finding the right deal between Fulham and himself, our deal with Fulham was agreed a while ago.
"Cyrus has shown a big statement of intent to come here and play football. To do that is the sort of character you need."
Christie, 29, can operate across the defensive positions and Martin said: "I think it will really benefit him being here. He will help us and we will help him. Once we had a chat and he realised how he would fit in, he did his bit to get it to happen.
"It's a testament to his character he has been willing to do that. For his sake and ours, I hope it will pay off and I am convinced it will."
The Swansea boss said he was "delighted" with the acquisition of Christie and goalkeeper Andrew Fisher, who has signed from Martin's former club MK Dons for a fee understood to be in the region of £400,000 on a four-and-a-half year deal.
Fisher is also set for a Swansea bow against Huddersfield and Martin said: "Fish is a really important signing long term for this football club.
"He is a fantastic goalkeeper. He is someone we had at MK Dons who we had to fight so hard for to sign. He signed three minutes before the deadline because he was someone the owner at MK Dons did not really feel we needed at that time.
"But we knew how important he would be. He took a huge pay cut at that time. He showed a good leap of faith in us... and it paid off for him.
"He was excellent for MK Dons and I am sure he will be excellent for us."
Martin hopes to do more business in the January window while more departures are expected, with midfielder Dan Williams set to join Dundalk on loan and goalkeeper Lewis Webb heading for a temporary spell at Shelbourne.
After a Covid outbreak over Christmas, Swansea still have some illness in the camp which will see them without one or two players at Huddersfield.
Striker Kyle Joseph is included in the squad having been recalled from his loan spell at Cheltenham Town.
Swansea will be looking to end a run of three consecutive league defeats as they play their first Championship game since December 11.