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It’s a long way from Tenby to Texas... but for manager Garry Monk it is the scale of the journey Swansea City has taken over recent years.

Instead of ice-creams on the prom it will be stetsons in the sun this summer as the Swans head to a prestigious tournament in America’s Lone Star state.

Swansea will take part in a 10-day competition along with a five other sides from around the globe including Newcastle United. French club Olympique Lyon, Mexico’s Pachuca, Spanish side Malaga and Morocco’s Raja Casablanca complete the line-up at the event set to run from July 9-19 at Dallas’ Cotton Bowl and the Toyota Stadium in the nearby city of Frisco.

Centre-piece of pre-season

Despite plans still on-going, tentative details of the tournament have already been released with the Swans drawn in one group with Pachuca and Malaga and the other three teams in another.

After the group stages, the sides finishing in first, second and third in each group will then face off against each other.

The trip looks like being the centre-piece of Monk’s preseason preparations as he seeks to follow an impressive first full campaign as boss at the club.

It will not be the first time Monk has taken the Swans to America.

Last summer they held a training camp in Chicago and played friendlies against Mexican side Chivas Guadalajara and Minnesota United.

Swansea City train in the USA in 2014

But Monk believes this summer’s event will be another step up all together for the Welsh club.

As well as matters on the pitch, Monk acknowledged that raising the club’s profile in the American market could only be a step in the right direction commercially too as the Swans look to capitalise on their Premier League success of recent years.

And Monk, who as a player and now manager has been at the club more than a decade, marvelled that the Swans were now able to take such preseason tours, observing that previously a few days training at the much-loved nearby seaside resort of Tenby would have been more the order of the day.

“You have to take all of that (the commercial aspect) into account now. It’s a great sign for the club because in the past we’d have been struggling to go to Tenby for the week!” said Monk.

'Final few details'

“But now you’re getting a chance to grow the brand a little but better. It’s another step forward and America’s a great market. If we can get it right it would be good for everyone, not the players and staff of the club but also the fans.

“We had fantastic support when we played out there last year against Chivas there must have been good three or four thousand in Swansea shirts and you’d never have thought that before.

“We are in negotiations with guys in Texas, there is a tournament going on and we are a long way down the line in terms of negotiations. We are just waiting for a final few details to be confirmed before we fully commit.

“We have enjoyed our times in America, we have been a few times in recent years and it was really good. We were in Chicago last year and I felt when we have an opportunity to play a tournament against good teams it will be great for the club itself.

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“We have not done that yet in a big arena, big tournament approach, so it is a step forward for the club and the players and that is what we have tried to identify. We had other options, but at this moment that is the one furthest down the line.”

But the money aspect aside, Monk will be keen to put his players through their paces and bed in any new signings ahead of the next top-flight campaign. Monk said as a squad bonding exercise the Texas tour would be vital and a chance to get his side up to speed physically too.

The matches are sure to be played in searing temperatures in a Texas summer, but Monk said that could only be good for his players.

“You’re putting them in tough conditions and need to put the conditioning into the players and hopefully the training and the games are right. That’s my ultimate aim before the start of the season.,” added the Swansea boss.

'A lot of people used to think those trips were holidays'

“It also allows new players to integrate with the squad more and get to know each other, see the personalities comes out. They’re in each others’ pockets for two weeks and there’s a lot of team building sessions as well as focusing on the football.

"A lot of people used to think those trips were holidays for the players but it’s by far the opposite because you get your base work and detail in.

"We ask the players to put a lot of work in, it was hard last season but it will probably be even harder this summer.”

In the group stages of the tournament winners will get three points and losers none. If the game is a draw after 90 minutes the games will be decided by a penalty shoot-out with the winners receiving two points and the losers one at that stage.

An early schedule for all the games has been released, but could still be subject to change. Which of the two venues each of the games will be played at has not been decided yet.

Groups:

Group A

Newcastle United (England)

Olympique Lyon (France)

Raja Casablanca (Morocco)

(Image: Action Images / Alan Walter)

Group B

Pachuca (Mexico)

Malaga (Spain)

Swansea City (Wales)

The schedule is as follows (subject to change) with kick-off times local:

Saturday, July 11

Newcastle United vs Olympique Lyon, 7:30pm

Sunday, July 12

Pachuca vs Malaga, 7:30pm

Tuesday, July 14

Raja Casablanca vs Newcastle United, 5:30pm

Swansea City vs Malaga, 7:30pm

Thursday, July 16

Olympique Lyon vs Raja Casablanca, 5:30pm

Swansea City vs Pachuca, 7:30pm

Saturday, July 18

Group A 3rd placed team vs Group B 3rd placed team, 5:30pm

Group B 2nd placed team vs Group A 2nd placed team, 7:30pm

Sunday, July 19

Group A 1st placed team vs Group B 1st placed team, 7:30pm.