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Swansea City moved to boost their January transfer plans by taking out a £9m-plus loan against the cash still owed to them over the sale of Andre Ayew, new documents have revealed.

The Swans agreed a £20.5m sale of the Ghana star in August , with the Hammers paying the fee – the second-highest received in the Liberty club’s history – in a series of instalments.

In what is standard practice over such large figures, West Ham do not have to pay the full amount for the forward until the summer of 2019.

(Image: Getty Images)

But with Swansea looking for readily-available cash to fund new additions, papers lodged at Companies House have outlined how the club have taken out a loan with bank Santander to advance the outstanding instalments.

Instalments – of which barely half of the total amount have been received by Swansea as part of the agreement – are due to be paid in August of this year, August 2018 and finally in June 2019.

With the money guaranteed regardless of whether Ayew stays with West Ham or were to move, Swansea have chosen to accelerate the payments as part of their policy with the bank.

Swansea have been loaned the outstanding amount and will pay that money back to Santander – plus interest – as soon as West Ham make each individual payment, with the total figure left to pay on the deal amounting to £9.5million.

However, while supporters may be surprised to see the club needing to take out a loan given their Premier League status, it is a practice that is not uncommon given transfer fees are guaranteed with clubs dubbed as ‘Football Creditors’.

Swansea used the practice over the sale of Wilfried Bony, with three instalments of around £8million paid making up the initial £24million fee. Premier League broadcast payments, the biggest source of revenue income for the club, are also paid in tranches.

And, with the January transfer window drawing to a close on Tuesday night and top-flight clubs having spent some £175million during this same period last season, the documents give an insight into how some of the big-money Premier League deals are structured.

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“The loan relates to the transfer of Andre Aye to West Ham. These payments are due over a number of years. The club has accelerated these payments which is normal operating procedure for most football clubs,” a club spokesman said.

“It’s a safe procedure the club has taken advantage of on numerous occasions over recent years in order to maintain a frugal and sound financial operation.”

Swansea City have yet to publish their accounts for the 2015-16 season, but chairman Huw Jenkins had revealed earlier this season they would show “significant losses.”

Swans fans had been keen for the club to strengthen the squad through transfer activity this window having seen both Ayew and Ashley Williams sold over the summer, the latter moving to Everton in a deal worth £12m. Fans had also been keen for new majority shareholders Steve Kaplan and Jason Levien to show their ambition with financial support.