Joe Allen: Wales midfielder eyes Premier League return with Swansea City
- Published
Joe Allen re-signed for Swansea earlier this month, 10 years after leaving the club for Liverpool
Wales midfielder Joe Allen still has ambitions to return to the Premier League having rejoined Swansea City.
Allen, 32, is preparing for a fifth straight season of Championship football after returning to Swansea from Stoke City this summer.
But the former Liverpool player believes he can get back to the highest level with Swansea, a club he initially joined as a nine-year old.
"That [ambition] is still there," Allen said.
"To do it with this club is what I want and what everyone in that dressing room wants.
"I think that's certainly the ultimate target, but having said that, probably bar two, three, four teams in this division, I think everyone else has the same target.
"We know how competitive it is - it's a marathon of a season. But certainly I still dream of getting back into the Premier League."
Swansea finished 15th in the Championship last season having reached the play-offs in the two previous campaigns.
Yet Allen's belief that Russell Martin's side can compete at the top end of the second tier in 2022-23 was a key factor in his decision to return to Swansea on a two-year deal.
Joe Allen made 221 appearances in six years at Stoke
Allen, a Swansea academy product who made 150 appearances in his first stint at the club, left in a £15m deal for Liverpool in 2012.
He was heavily linked with a return when he left Anfield in 2016, but eventually opted for Stoke after a much-talked about Swansea move did not materialise.
After six years in the Potteries, Allen could have signed a new deal with Stoke this summer but, with his contract up, decided it was time to move on.
There was interest from a number of clubs - including some overseas - but Allen says is heart was always set on Swansea.
"Thankfully the chance has come around [to go back to Swansea]," Allen told BBC Sport Wales.
"It was a move that ticked so many boxes for me. In terms of the football, the style of play, what the manager was doing with the team last season and the way he wants to keep improving and progressing things - that was really appealing to me.
"Obviously [there is] the history I have with the club [and] the chance [it brings] for me and my family to be settled here. I think friends and family are thrilled that I am back as well, so on all fronts it's a great move."
There have been suggestions Allen has accepted a reduction in salary of as much as 75% in order to make the Swansea reunion happen.
"Finances weren't a big factor in coming back, of course not," he said.
"The reasons I listed are the main reasons - [with] football right at the top.
"I am confident this club is on the verge of achieving really good things. It's a group of young players who are getting better all the time and the manager - his methods, his concepts, the way he wants to do things - are all things that are appealing to me."
For Allen, as is the case for all Wales players, a huge season lies ahead.
The Championship, like the Premier League, will shut down for almost a month in mid-November because of the winter World Cup.
While many of his new club-mates will get a mid-season break, Allen - assuming he is fit - is a certainty to be part of Robert Page's squad in Qatar.
Joe Allen celebrates after Wales beat Ukraine to end the nation's 64-year wait to qualify for the World Cup
Allen is at the point in his career where questions will be asked about how long he will continue playing but, after 53 appearances for club and country last season, he has no worries about the hectic schedule ahead.
"That's not something that concerns me, the demands [of the Championship]. I am used to it," he said.
"[Being] 32 almost seems like the way we talked about [being] 38, 39 a few years ago. I think there's plenty more in the tank."
Allen, who has more than 500 career cub appearances under his belt, says he is unsure in terms of how long he will keep playing.
"The next two years obviously and then it will be a case of assessing at that point," he added.
"There will be different things to mull over. But as is stands I still love playing the game, I still wake up in the morning hungry to achieve. As long as I feel like that, I will keep going."
Allen's experience is welcome for Swansea, whose squad has its share of promising talents but is light on seasoned professionals.
"I think there is an onus on me being one of the more experienced and older players, there's going to be responsibility that comes with that," Allen said.
"I think he (Martin) is hoping I can have a good influence on the younger players in particular and help be a driving force."
Martin's ideal scenario was to play Allen alongside captain Matt Grimes and Flynn Downes in what would have been one of the Championship's more eye-catching midfield trios.
Yet it was Downes' move to West Ham which prompted Swansea's owners to sanction the Allen signing, so Martin must rethink his plans.
What looks certain is that Allen - who picked up a hamstring injury playing for Wales in June but hopes to be fit for the start of the season - will be a central figure, a player who will be key if Swansea are to achieve anything significant in the next couple of years.
Should they make it back to the Premier League, Allen would become the first player in Swansea's history to help the club reach the top flight twice, having been part of Brendan Rodgers' play-off final-winning team in 2011.
"There's a bit of added motivation for me," he said. "That would be a pretty cool achievement."