Get the latest Swans news sent straight to your inbox Sign up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

The manager of a Swansea City target has launched a stunning attack on the Liberty Stadium club, mocking their interest in French midfielder Benjamin Stambouli.

The Swans have been thought to be have looking at Montpellier’s want-away player as Garry Monk targets further additions to his squad, although it is not clear whether he plans to push ahead with any move for the highly-rated 24-year-old.

But Monk will be no doubt left angered by the incredible tirade launched by the Ligue 1 side’s manager, Rolland Courbis, who poured disdain on the Swans’s size, financial standing ...and even the fact they are Welsh.

His rant, which appears littered with sarcasm, dismissed Swansea’s attraction to a player who has reportedly attracted interest from Fiorentina among others from his homeland.

Courbis’ quotes are translated as saying: “After Newcastle signed (Remy) Cabella I heard Swansea are in for Stambouli. Our players, who are internationals or furture internationals, attract the attention of big clubs. If I’m Benji, I wake up tomorrow in Wales, I’m training with my teammates Swansea, if I’m not happiest footballer in the world or the happiest guy in the world, it means that I do not understand anything.

“Swansea to me is not a big club, but it’s a good club. Montpellier is a great club, but it’s a good club. It’s like you have a country that has an international player and Montpellier are interested in a player there, you have the coach or player who say ‘well, it’s not that it’s Ajaccio, Evian Thonon or Valenciennes asking you but this is not Paris Saint-Germain, Marseille and Monaco either, it’s Montpellier! So for me, Newcastle is the Montpellier of England. And Swansea, I do not know if it’s even the Montpellier of England? Already, it is not in England, it is in Wales.

“I am surprised that there are no ten major clubs that are vying for him because he has the qualities to be.

“I see Stambouli (as a 15m Euro player). This is not the condition, it is the act of watching what he does. When I see the clubs interested in (Lyon player Maxime) Gonalons, and when I see the clubs interested in Stambouli, I say maybe I see Stambouli bigger than he is.

“I’m not tying to advertise Stambouli to sell him, I’d like to keep him and he is sold in a year, best selling to a bigger club, with financial conditions also the double or triple of what we are trying to propose.

“Because when (Swansea’s interest) came to my ears, I almost laughed and took a nervous giggle. There’s even that sum? Wales ... this financial monstrosity ... and a 8-year contract, too?!”

Pictures: The key ins and outs at Swansea City this summer