"Ferrie Bodde is Premiership class"

BBC
Friday 31 October 2008

Swansea say they are not surprised that midfielder Ferrie Bodde has been linked with a number of Premiership clubs.

"He's one that I think can play in the Premiership with no problems," midfield partner Darren Pratley told BBC Sport.

Manager Roberto Martinez said: "It's not just Ferrie, we've got a group of five or six players that are ready to play in the Premiership right now.

"We are not in a financial mess where we are forced to sell players and every fan knows that."

Media reports have linked Bodde, 26, with a £2.5m bid from West Brom, with Portsmouth, Middlesbrough and Bolton also said to be monitoring him.

The classy Dutchman was at the centre of a long-running transfer saga in the close season, Derby making three bids for the player who handed in a transfer request that he later rescinded.

Bodde signed for Swansea from ADO Den Haag for £85,000 in June 2007, and says he has international ambitions with the Netherlands.

"It wouldn't be no surprise to me if Premiership clubs put in a bid for him," Pratley told BBC Sport Wales.

"That's a credit to him for playing well and credit to the team for doing well as well.

"He's a good player with his range of passing and that."

Martinez passed off questions about a possible transfer, calling the rumours a credit to the club.

"I think that's a great compliment when you get Premiership teams... they're looking at your players it's because you are doing something well as a football club and as a squad of players," he told BBC Sport Wales.

"We're a football club that we do not need to sell, we are a football club that are in a great position.

"We should be focused on our next challenge which is Saturday.

"Speculation is part of football... the last couple of years we did not attract speculation because we didn't do the things as well as we're doing now.

"That's a great position to be in where you can dictate things then it's important."

After claiming that he already has five or six players of Premiership class, Martinez added:

"There are another group of six, seven, eight players that will be ready to play in Premiership football in the near future if they carry on developing [as] they are.

"That's our football club, our long-term vision."