Laudrup yet to speak to Allen

Joe Allen: Swansea City have a contingency plan if the midfielder does join Liverpool

Michael Laudrup has suggested he would not force Joe Allen to stay at Swansea City, but has yet to speak to the Liverpool target since being appointed manager.

Allen is wanted by former Swansea boss Brendan Rodgers at Liverpool and the Anfield club are understood to be closing in on a £15million deal for the Wales international.

The 22-year-old is currently with the Team GB squad ahead of the Olympics and Laudrup will only hold talks with Allen once Liverpool make a firm bid.

"I haven't spoken to Joe since I have taken over," said the Swansea boss. "I haven't spoken to any of the three Olympics players and we have not had any contact from Liverpool.

"I am in contact with the chairman every day. We agree that if there will be an approach then we will have to talk to the player.

"We cannot just answer 100% yes or no without having talked to the player. That's a problem because he has to concentrate on the Olympics but we will have to deal with that if and when it comes to that.

"You can force players to stay but how does that help? It doesn't work like that. It's better to find a solution that suits both parties."

Prepared

However, with it appearing increasingly likely that the Reds will make a bid for Allen, Laudrup has confirmed he does have a contingency plan in place if the player does move on.

"You always have to be one step ahead so we have to be prepared for everything," he added. "It's not only in this case, but with each position in the team.

"When the transfer window closes on August 31 you can breathe a sigh of relief, but you only have three or four months when people do not talk about transfers because then you look ahead to January 1. It will be the same then.

"You have to think about the present window as well as the future, which will be the winter window. But we obviously want to be able to have the best possible team available."