Jonjo Shelvey to play for Swansea in FA Cup despite transfer reports

Alan Curtis plans to pitch Jonjo Shelvey into Swansea's FA Cup tie at Oxford amid reports the midfielder could leave in January.

Playing Shelvey at the Kassam Stadium on Sunday would cup-tie the 23-year-old if he were to move on in this month's transfer window, but Swansea boss Curtis has again insisted he wants the former Charlton and Liverpool midfielder to stay in south Wales.

"It's fair to say that Jonjo will play on Sunday and, hopefully, he will show everybody what he's capable of," said Curtis, who takes charge in a permanent capacity for the first time after being promoted from the caretaker role he had held since Garry Monk's departure on December 9.

"From there, we will look at it in terms of the league fixtures to come."

Shelvey, who has six England caps, has only started once in Curtis' five games in charge, triggering reported interest from Crystal Palace and Newcastle.

But Curtis said: "I would want him to stay, yeah, absolutely. I spoke to him [on Friday] and told him that. I feel that he's got a huge part to play.

"He's not in the team at the moment and there's always going to be speculation about good players.

"Jonjo's a current England international so there's going to be speculation about him moving on. We feel that he's a huge part of what will be a difficult run-in."