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| Improved offer for Ayew? |
Sunderland appear undeterred in their pursuit of Swansea City talisman Andre Ayew - with reports claiming the Black Cats have lodged an improved cash plus player bid involving Fabio Borini.
The Swans' relegations rivals made an audacious move to lure Ayew from the Liberty Stadium earlier this month, testing the water with an offer believed to be as low as £6m .
That was immediately knocked back and last week Alan Curtis publicly stated Swans chairman Huw Jenkins had reassured him there was no way Ayew would be allowed to leave this month.
Now, though, Sunderland have reportedly attempted to test the Swans' resolve over the Ghanaian further with a cash plus player offer of £10m and former Liberty cult hero Fabio Borini.
Sky Sports say the Black Cats have upped the ante in their pursuit of Ayew after their initial approach 10 days ago by improving the financial terms of their offer and using Borini as a makeweight.
Borini won the penalty in the 2011 play-off final against Reading that sealed a 4-2 win at Wembley and promotion to the top flight.
The Swans are likely to be under no illusions over the importance of keeping Ayew in their quest to preserve that status though - especially after he won a penalty and scored the winner in a vital 2-1 win over Everton on Sunday.
Speaking last week, Curtis was unequivocal on Ayew's short-term future, saying: "I spoke to the chairman and he said there's no way Andre will be going.
"We can't let him go to Sunderland — we can't allow that.
"It's probably bad enough that Jonjo (Shelvey) has gone to Newcastle, although in the end they were the only club really pushing to get him.
"I am just glad the chairman has allowed me to kill the story dead.
"Fabio is probably one of a number of players whose names have been mentioned.
"Andre will not be allowed to leave so certainly he is out of the equation, although whether he was part of any deal being talked about, I don't know."
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