Joe Allen: Wales midfielder rejoins Swansea City on two-year deal after Stoke exit
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Joe Allen is returning to club football in Wales having helped his country qualify for a first World Cup since 1958
Wales midfielder Joe Allen has rejoined Swansea City on a two-year contract.
Allen, 32, was a free agent having left Stoke City after six years with the Swans' Championship rivals.
The Swansea academy product returns to his boyhood club 10 years after he left to join Liverpool for £15m.
"It feels like I'm coming back home," Allen said told Swansea's website. "I think any way I look at it, all the signs are there that it's going to be a great match."
Allen added: "It's a club I've got history with, I came through the system, the football that we're playing, and the group we've got here.
"When I knew the club was interested in bringing me back here I couldn't wait to get things done over the last couple of days and finally sign on the dotted line."
Allen's arrival follows the departure of fellow midfielder Flynn Downes, who has joined West Ham in a five-year deal understood to be worth about £12m.
The midfielder, 23, had seemed set for Crystal Palace, but wanted to join West Ham after they matched the Eagles' offer.
Essex-born Downes, a West Ham fan, excelled at Swansea last season after joining from Ipswich Town for about £1.4m in August 2021.
Swansea have now made a large profit on the former England Under-20 player.
Flynn Downes said in April he believed Swansea could challenge for the Championship title in 2022-23
His departure allowed head coach Russell Martin to sign Wales international Allen.
"I've been hugely impressed by Russell and he's been a huge part of the reason why I've wanted to come back," Allen added.
"His methods, how much he wants to play on the front foot, his style of play as everyone knows and how brave he wants his team to be is everything you want as a player and what you want to be a part of.
"I'm really excited to get stuck into it."
Pembrokeshire-born Allen came through Swansea's youth ranks to make 150 senior appearances before leaving for Liverpool in a £15m deal in 2012.
Martin said he was keen to sign Allen at the end of last season, but Swansea's owners had been unwilling to sanction a deal until players left the club.
Martin had hoped Allen would play alongside Downes and captain Matt Grimes in Swansea's midfield in 2022-23, but it is Downes' departure that has prompted Swansea to push through a deal for Allen.
Find all the latest football transfers on our dedicated page.
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