On loan Swansea City midfielder Conor Hourihane says he is not thinking about his future beyond trying to help the club win promotion to the Premier League this season.

Hourihane joined Swansea on a temporary basis from Aston Villa back in the summer transfer window, and has since gone on to make 20 appearances in all competitions for the club, scoring five goals and providing two assists.

Those performances have seen Hourihane help the Swans to secure a place in the Championship play-offs this season, and with his contract at Villa Park set to expire this summer, there have inevitably been questions about the midfielder's future beyond the end of the campaign.

For now though, it seems as though Hourihane is only thinking about that battle for a place in the Premier League next season.

Speaking about the possibility of making his move to Swansea a permanent one this summer, the midfielder was quoted by Birmingham Live as telling TalkSport: “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. I’ve loved my time here, it’s been fantastic, it’s a great place to live.

"I’ve been fortunate to meet some of the fans out and about and I can’t speak highly enough of the place. Let’s wait and see. The first goal is to get promoted. We’ll take it from there.”

Prior to his move to the Liberty Stadium at the start of this year, Hourihane had made 150 appearances and scored 29 goals in all competitions for Villa, after joining from Barnsley in 2017.

The Verdict

I can understand why Hourihane may not want to commit to anything too soon here.

There is still plenty to be decided before the transfer window opens and his Villa contract ends, so he is not going to want to say anything that could cause problems for him in a few months time.

However, you can understand why Swansea might be keen to bring Hourihane back for next season, considering he has been impressive for them since making that move, and his Premier League experience could be useful if they do win promotion.

As a result, I would not be too surprised if there was to be interest here at the very least, and it does seem as though Hourihane could be open to a return to Wales if the circumstances are right, which is promising for those of a Swansea persuasion.