This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

Swansea will resist any attempts to lure their France striker Bafétimbi Gomis away from the Liberty Stadium.

The wealthy Dubai-based Al Ahli have been linked with a shock move for the 29-year-old Gomis, who scored 10 goals for Swansea after joining from Lyon on a free transfer last summer.

Gomis had an eventful first season at Swansea, spending the first half of the campaign in the shadow of Wilfried Bony when he was outspoken in his criticism about his lack of starting opportunities.

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But Bony’s initial £25m sale to Manchester City in January paved the way for Gomis to claim a starting spot and he finished the season strongly with six goals in his final 10 league appearances.

Gomis also endeared himself to the Swansea faithful with regular pledges of allegiance on social media, and manager Garry Monk said the 12-times capped France international was a big part of the club’s future.

“He [Gomis] is here to stay,” Monk said in May. “Of course he was frustrated in the early part of his time here because he is a big striker and people forgot what he had done in his career.

“He’s played Champions League, he’s played international football, he’s scored a big number of goals in every single season.

“He’s a top player who wanted to feel pride in what he was achieving and being that number one – but he was never a problem.

“You do say some silly stuff at times, but I knew he could score goals in this league and contribute to this team.”

Gomis attracted interest from Crystal Palace and West Ham in January but Swansea always insisted the striker was going nowhere even before Bony was sold for a club record fee.

Reports at the time said a £7m release clause in Gomis’s Swansea contract kicks in this summer and it remains to be seen whether Al Ahli, who plan to spend big to help regain the UAE Pro League, will activate that.

But it is understood Swansea will not encourage any interest in Gomis despite adding Ghana’s André Ayew and the Portugal international Eder to their strikeforce this summer.

Gomis scored in the 2-1 pre-season friendly win over the German side 1860 Munich on Saturday and Monk recently said he is not looking to sell any of his key players in this transfer window and asserted: “All these guys are committed to the club.”

The Icelandic international Gylfi Sigurdsson, who struck up an impressive partnership with Gomis in the second half of the season, paid tribute to the striker after the victory over 1860 Munich.

“It’s very important in the Premier League to have a striker that’s scoring goals week in, week out,” Sigurdsson told the official club website.

“Bafe is an important player and everyone in the squad knows he can score a lot of goals this season, and hopefully he can do just that.”