Paul Clement believes Gylfi Sigurdsson is better off being the key player at Swansea City rather than moving on this summer and risking a repeat of his experience at Tottenham Hotspur, where the midfielder spent two years trying to hold down a regular first-team place.

Speaking after Sigurdsson had said the previous night, at Swansea’s annual awards dinner, that he would leave only if the Welsh club decided to sell him, Clement expressed his hope that the Icelander would one day get the opportunity to “play for a really big club”.

At the moment, however, the Swansea manager is determined to hold on to Sigurdsson and went on to suggest the 27-year-old, who is attracting interest from Everton, is likely to take into consideration how his time at Spurs “didn’t work out” when he weighs up his options. Sigurdsson made 58 Premier League appearances for Tottenham between 2012 and 2014 but completed a full game on only nine occasions.

“I think he has a unique situation,” Clement said. “He was here on loan and then he went to Tottenham, which was set to be the next step in his career. It didn’t work out, he came back here and has done really well. He is going to have that in his mind. If he is going to make the next step it has to be a positive one. He cannot have another situation like he had at Tottenham, where he potentially goes somewhere and is in and out of the side and does not gather any momentum. Otherwise he is better staying here, being a key player and building something around moving this club forward.”

Although Swansea have been embroiled in relegation battles in the past two seasons, Clement hopes Sigurdsson, who has scored nine Premier League goals and assisted another 13 in this campaign, will recognise the club is moving in the right direction since the 45-year-old’s appointment as head coach in January. “We want him to be able to see from the second half of the season that he is not going to have another situation like this season,” Clement said.

“But I was also interested to see his words that he had enjoyed the pressure in a weird kind of way. In a sick kind of way really, it is pretty tortuous but the pressure is there, every game is important. Nobody wants to play in a game every week where it does not matter. Every minute of every game was vital to us, we had to fight for every point, and when you have that feeling and you achieve it, it is very satisfying.”

There is a school of thought that Sigurdsson thrives on the extra responsibility that is placed on his shoulders at Swansea, where everything revolves around him, which may not be the case if he moves elsewhere. “A lot of players have to make that decision in their careers,” Clement said. “I am not necessarily talking about Gylfi but do they want to be a smaller fish in a big pond or a big fish in a small pond? He has a lot of ambition and I can understand that. I hope he stays here but I also hope in the future he gets the opportunity to play for a really big club.”