Swansea City expect to win the race for Cliftonville striker Rory Donnelly, with the Welsh club’s manager commenting that he hopes to complete the transfer "fairly soon".

 

The transfer saga surrounding the 19-year-old hitman has ebbed and flowed, with first Swansea’s £100,000 bid being bettered by Everton, while Liverpool entered the race and boss Kenny Dalglish held talks with the Northern Ireland Under-21 star.

 

Arsenal were also confirmed to have scouted Donnelly as Cliftonville indicated a deal needed to be done quickly.

 

Swansea recently returned with an improved offer for the striker however and this was accepted.

 

Donnelly has visited the club’s ground and training facilities and is known to have been impressed, also hitting it off with Swansea’s Northern Irish manager Brendan Rodgers.

 

And Rodgers believes that the deal is almost done.

 

"I think we now have an agreement on both sides in terms of Cliftonville and personal terms with the player", said the Swansea boss.

 

"So we hope to complete that fairly soon."

 

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