South Wales Evening Post

Cooper: I didn’t want any player to leave

- IAN MITCHELMOR­E Football writer ian.mitchelmor­e@walesonlin­e.co.uk

KRISTOFFER Peterson has completed his move from Swansea City to Fortuna Dusseldorf.

Peterson has joined the German side in a deal worth around £400,000 with add-ons.

The winger was set to be in Swansea’s matchday squad for their 2-1 win over Millwall on Saturday until Steve Cooper was instructed by chief executive Julian Winter to omit the Swedish attacker.

And speaking after the game at the Liberty Stadium, head coach Cooper revealed all on exactly how he was informed of Peterson’s exit from the club.

Here’s the full transcript of what he had to say on the 25-year-old.

Q: Can you clarify the news that Kristoffer Peterson is on his way to Fortuna Dusseldorf, and what was the reason behind the move?

SC: “Well I don’t know the reason behind it.

“I had a message off Julian Winter this morning to ask for him not to be involved.

“He was in the squad and would probably have been on the bench, and that’s as much as I know about it, to be honest.” Q: Did you want to keep him? SC: “I didn’t want to lose anybody, I said that last week.

“We’re going into the busiest Championsh­ip schedule ever.

“It’s a busy schedule anyway, the Championsh­ip, but this year and because of the demands on the season, it’s a game every three days.

“It’s going to be like the Christmas period for a while.

“We’re going to need a squad. And I know I haven’t changed the team too much, only the goalkeeper today, because we’ve been playing every Saturday and we’ve got some positive results, and you keep going with that, that’s pretty normal.

“But that isn’t going to continue. We need a squad. We saw Jay Fulton come on today, he was excellent.

“Jay is a starter for us, and he’s a brilliant profession­al. Not happy with not being in the team, but he doesn’t show it, and I think we’ve put him on in three out of the four games now, and he’s been brilliant.

“We’re going to need strength in depth. I didn’t want to lose any players, but we’ve lost one, so I’ll just get on with it.”

Q: Were you not consulted? SC: “I think all clubs are different, with who makes decisions,” explained Cooper (circled, left).

“Like I said, I just got the instructio­n this morning not to involve Kris, and what happens next with him I’m not too sure.

“But like I said, I’ll report for training next week with the players that are there, and they’ll get mine and the coaching team’s best efforts to get the most out of the internatio­nal break.”

Q: Can you work with this squad? The bulk of your senior players were in the matchday squad today.

SC: “In terms of physical demands of games, this will have been the easiest part of the season.

“The boys in the team have benefited from that, and the boys out of the team haven’t because normally you get some League Cup games, and that wasn’t the case this year.

“But like you said, after the internatio­nal break it’s going to be full on and it’s about playing a game, recovering and playing again. You’re going to need more than 11, 12 or 13 players.

“You look at some of the teams we’re going to come up against, they’ve got starters not even in the matchday squad with everybody fit that they might have paid money for, and have 200 or 300 Championsh­ip games.

“But I’m not going to moan about it. It is what it is.

“I’m very proud of the players in general, they’re a real credit to themselves and the football club.

“And while they’re like that, they’re only going to get mine and the staff’s best efforts because that’s the least they deserve, and the supporters as well.”

 ?? Picture: Wales News Service. ??
Picture: Wales News Service.

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