Friday 15 January 2016 16:56, UK
Swansea manager Alan Curtis has denied suggestions Jonjo Shelvey was forced out of the club.
The England midfielder joined Newcastle on Tuesday for a fee understood to be around £12m after losing his place in the Swansea line-up.
His last game was the 3-2 FA Cup third round defeat at Oxford, which ended with Shelvey appearing to have a verbal altercation with a fan.
Shelvey claimed on Friday he felt a 'bit hard done by' after leaving the Liberty Stadium, but Curtis insists he was keen to keep the player at the club as they battle for their Premier League survival.
"I don't see how he can direct any criticism towards the club," said Curtis.
"Obviously, there was a little bit of trouble between Jonjo and a small section of supporters. But even during the (FA Cup) game last Sunday at Oxford a lot of the crowd were cheering his name.
"I think the criticism at the end was probably a reaction to the performance of the team as much as Jonjo's performance. He certainly wasn't hounded out of the club in any way.
"It was just a case of Jonjo wanting to play first-team football and in the end it was probably a good deal for both parties.
"The money was good and it was probably good for Jonjo to move, it was in the interest of both parties for him to have a fresh start."
Curtis remains keen to bring some new players in to the club, with a striker the priority, but he refused to confirm they have made a move for Everton's Steven Naismith.
"Steven is a good player but he is an Everton player at the moment, so it is a little bit disrespectful to be talking about players from other clubs," added Curtis.
"We need to sign good players and Steven is one who would come into that category but there are things going on behind the scenes I can't really comment on at the moment.
"There are a number of players [we are interested in] but as I said before, a lot of the names we are talking about, other clubs are interested in as well."
Former Swansea midfielder Jonathan de Guzman has been reportedly linked with a return to the club from Napoli and Curtis admitted he would like to see him back in south Wales.
"Like all clubs, I think we need to spruce the squad up and get some new faces in," said Curtis.
"A striker would probably be the main priority but it could be other positions as well. Jonathan [De Guzman] is one of a list of names of players that I've seen.
"Jonathan is a player we know and it makes sense to bring players in you have some sort of knowledge of."
Watch Swansea v Watford on Monday Night Football. Coverage begins on Sky Sports 1 at 7pm.
