Swansea have agreed a £6million fee with Scottish champions Celtic for midfielder Ki Sung-yueng.
Swans boss Michael Laudrup has identified the South Korean, a star for his country as they picked up an Olympic bronze medal at London 2012, as the perfect replacement for Joe Allen, who departed for Liverpool earlier this month.
Laudrup’s Celtic counterpart, Neil Lennon, says “advanced discussions” are underway with the Swans for Ki and described the impending transfer as “good business” for the club after buying the midfielder for just £2.1m in January 2010.
“It will be unfortunate to lose a talented player but that’s been our strategy at the club now for the last two or three years,” added Lennon. “We cultivate players then move them on. We feel it’s good business.”
Celtic assistant Johan Mjallby had earlier revealed that Ki, who has also been linked with Arsenal and QPR this summer, was “keen to move on” having helped the club to the SPL title last season.
Ki is now expected to hold talks with Swansea over personal terms before sealing what would be a club-record move to the Liberty Stadium for the cultured midfielder.
Swansea chairman Huw Jenkins said: “We have agreed a fee with Celtic for Ki. We are aware of other clubs interest but we are hopeful we can conclude a deal in the next 24 hours. We feel he is a very exciting young player who has a good career in front of him.”
The ex-FC Seoul man made 34 appearances for Celtic last season, but is yet to feature this term after his exertions at London 2012.
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