Swansea boss Garry Monk has revealed that he was interested in retaining the services of Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Tom Carroll this season.

Carroll made 18 appearances during his loan spell at the Liberty Stadium last season, however he decided to instead push for the Spurs first team. He has played seven times for Tottenham this season.

Monk says that Carroll wanted to get regular football, which was not a promise that could be made tot him at Swansea. The Englishman described him as a ‘really good prospect’, however, a return to Wales was not the path that 23-year-old Carroll wanted to take.

Monk said to the South Wales Evening Post, “Tom did great, I really enjoyed working with him and he’s a really good prospect.”

“I spoke to him at the end of the season about coming here and of course we were interested.

“But I think it was a case that he really wanted to go back there and see if he could work his way into the first team.

“If it wasn’t working there he wanted to go out and get regular football. That was something I couldn’t guarantee him.”

Along with Swansea, Carroll has had loan spells with Leyton Orient, Derby County and QPR respectively since he signed a professional contract with Spurs in 2010. He has made a total of 13 appearances for his parent club.

He has played 17 times for England at U21 level, but is yet to be selected for the senior squad.