Swindon Town are confident of keeping hold of Swansea City loanee Joel Cotterill for the rest of the season after uncertainty over whether he would go back.
Cotterill has performed well since joining Town this summer, making 26 appearances and contributing to three goals in his second loan spell in League Two.
The midfielder said in late December that he would “hold an argument” with his parent club if they wanted to send him somewhere else, but the poor form of The Swans has left them considering a recall to be part of their squad.
Swansea lost midfielder Matt Grimes to league rivals Coventry City last week and so far the only replacement they have brought in is AaB Aalborg midfielder Melker Widell and he has moved back to Sweden on loan for the remainder of the campaign.
However, the Welsh club are expected to add two midfielders on deadline day in Manchester City’s Jacob Wright and Nottingham Forest’s Lewis O’Brien.
This has left Ian Holloway feeling confident that he will be able to keep hold of his Welsh under-21 international for the remainder of the campaign.
He said: “I am totally confident that we will still have him [at the end of the window]. Totally confident.
“At the minute he wants to stay with us, which is brilliant, and I think he showed that again today and hopefully one or two of them [Swansea staff] weren’t here.”
This means that Holloway will likely not have to move to his backup plan if Cotterill returns to The Swansea.com Stadium, as he said he had another player lined up in that eventuality.
Alan Nixon has reported, and The Adver is also aware of, interest in Josh Benson of Barnsley, who used to play for Swindon’s manager at Grimsby Town, although Cotterill's staying may throw that move into flux.
Swindon have also pulled out of a deal to sign former Crawley Town left-back Scott Malone after he spent two days with the club on trial last week in the absence of George Cox and Billy Kirkman through injury.
Despite saying that he would be happy to revisit a move for the 31-year-old in the summer, Holloway said that he had decided to use that part of his budget on a different player.
He said: “Things happened and the money was taken up, so it wasn’t about that [his fitness] in the end.”
