DUBAI // Riding high in the English Premier League, a first major cup final on the horizon and in Dubai to escape Britain's cold snap, it would be easy to assume life could not get any better for Swansea City.
Yet the Welsh side received another jolt of good news yesterday when Michael Laudrup and Michu, two of the club's key contributors, reiterated their desire to remain for the long term at the Liberty Stadium.
In his first season at Swansea, Laudrup has led the South Wales side to seventh in the table and to this month's Capital One Cup final, prompting recent links to a number of high-profile coaching positions, most notably Real Madrid - the club with whom he won Spain's Primera Liga as a player - and Chelsea.
However, on Wednesday his agent told a Danish newspaper that negotiations regarding an extension to his two-year contract would begin "in the coming days" and, while Laudrup did not confirm or deny those comments, he said he envisages a bright future at Swansea.
"As I've said more than once, my intention is to stay," said the Dane, speaking during his side's midseason training camp at Dubai Sports City.
"I have a contract for next year as well. It's a very interesting team we're building here and again we'll try to build on it in the summer.
"But now we have to stay in the present, and that is to get as many points as possible in the league and to win the cup final, and then let's see what happens next season with some new players coming in."
Laudrup said a busy schedule that includes Sunday's league trip to Liverpool and the cup final on February 24 at Wembley Stadium against Bradford City, the League Two side, has not allowed him time to consider his future.
Discussions regarding prolonging his stay at Swansea constitute, for the moment, an unnecessary distraction.
"Right now, I'm focusing only on the [Liverpool] game," he said. "The matches are coming fast and I don't have time for anything else.
"And if there are some talks I have a person in charge of that. Me, I'm concerned only about the next two weeks.
"I've been a player at the top level for 17 or 18 years so I know you have to live in the present because you never know what will happen. So to make plans for the next three or four years is impossible in this world."
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