Jamie Paterson: Forward to return to Swansea City training
- Published
Jamie Paterson applauds Swansea's fans after his most recent appearance for the club, the defeat to Nottingham Forest on 11 December
Jamie Paterson will return to Swansea City training on Wednesday after the forward held positive talks with head coach Russell Martin.
Paterson had told Swansea he was not in the right frame of mind to play because of his contract situation.
Martin says Paterson, 30, is "still not in a brilliant place mentally" but will come back into the fold after the transfer window closed.
"He's as good as a new signing for us," said the Swansea boss.
"I have said all along I haven't felt any different about Pato. He has never refused to play, he is just not in the right frame of mind. He has not been feeling very well.
"He loves being here - he has all the way along. That might sound contradictory to the situation we have been in, but I genuinely don't blame him.
"Football is a tough industry. He has a lot of mistrust from previous years in the game, previous clubs and business etc. But it's never been a lack of trust in us as a group of staff or the players."
Paterson joined Swansea on the eve of the 2021-22 campaign having been released by Bristol City at the end of last season.
He signed an initial 12-month contract, which included an automatic one-year extension if he reached 25 Swansea appearances.
But after Paterson's superb start to life in Wales - he has scored eight goals and provided four assists in 22 games - Swansea announced on 7 January they had triggered the extension clause early.
Paterson, who is understood to have been unhappy with the terms of his deal, has not played since the defeat to Nottingham Forest on 11 December.
Covid-19 issues meant Swansea did not play for 28 days after the Forest game, with Paterson missing out when they returned to action on 8 January because he had tested positive for Covid.
But he has sat out Swansea's five league games since then because of the contract situation.
Queens Park Rangers tabled three offers for Paterson during the January transfer window, but Swansea opted not to sell because the London club got nowhere near matching their valuation, understood to be around £750,000.
Martin held what he called a "brilliant meeting" with Paterson on Tuesday, ahead of Swansea's 1-0 home defeat to Luton Town.
"He just wants to try to draw a line under it, get back to feeling good mentally and physically and see where it takes him," Martin said.
"People have phoned to enquire about him and why we have fallen out and they couldn't understand it when I said there has been no falling out.
"He didn't want to do his team-mates an injustice. He didn't want to hurt us in any way.
"He hasn't been fined. He's not feeling very well, mentally and physically. I am not going to fine someone for that - I don't blame him for it one bit.
"He needs some time to get back up to speed. He hasn't been well, he's not been the same guy at all. He's a big character and when you see that slowly eroding, you understand there's a problem."
Paterson has not trained with Swansea's first team since first telling Martin he was not in the right frame of mind to play ahead of the draw at Huddersfield on 15 January.
Martin said Paterson has done four days' training with Swansea's under-23 squad, but has spent the rest of his time with his family.
Even so, Martin is hopeful Paterson could be fit in enough to play some part against Blackburn Rovers this Saturday.
