SWANSEA City have been told to up their offer for Kenwyne Jones after seeing a £3 million bid for the striker rejected.
It emerged last night that Swansea tabled their initial offer for the Stoke City targetman late last week.
But the suggestion is that Stoke have told Swansea they want £4.5 million for Jones (right). And boss Tony Pulis will also want to find a replacement for the former Sunderland man — who cost Stoke £8 million in 2010 — before he sanctions any deal.
Jones has emerged as Michael Laudrup's top target as he looks to add a centre-forward to his squad. But Swansea's chances of getting their man may be hampered by Jones's form.
Having spent much of the last 18 months playing a back-up role at the Britannia, the Trinidad & Tobago international has seized his chance of late after an injury to Peter Crouch.
However, Pulis has refused to rule out selling — and Jones stated before Christmas that his future could lie away from Stoke.
Laudrup, meantime, admitted he could not grumble after Swansea exited the FA Cup at Arsenal last night.
Extra time looked on the cards at the Emirates after a gallant defensive effort from Swansea, but Jack Wilshere finally took one of numerous Arsenal chances four minutes from time to send Arsene Wenger's team into round four.
And Laudrup conceded: "I'm not disappointed — you cannot be when you lose to a team who played better than you and deserved the win.
"I want to win every game and the players are the same, but we know that's not possible for anyone, never mind Swansea City.
"The first half was pretty even, but they played well in the second half and they had the better chances."
Swansea return to league action when Stoke come to the Liberty on Saturday and then face the crunch Capital One Cup semi-final second leg against Chelsea next Wednesday.
"We are playing against big sides here — Arsenal twice in 11 days, Everton and we have to play Chelsea twice," Laudrup added.
"We made some changes, but the most important thing is that the team is always competitive."
