ASHLEY WILLIAMS has effectively told Sunderland to forget about signing him this summer as the defender attempts to land a new contract at Swansea City.

The Black Cats made a £4m offer for the Wales international last week and that has been knocked back by Swans boss Huw Jenkins.

It has been suggested Sunderland will make an improved offer for the 29-year-old, but the player’s agent, Jamie Moralee, hinted yesterday that leaving the Liberty Stadium is not really in his thinking.

Moralee said: “We’ll see what happens. A bid’s come in from Sunderland, but I’ve got no control over who bids for my players and neither has the player.

“At the moment Ash is in Sardinia, I’m in Brazil and Huw is somewhere else. It’s up to Swansea to make him an offer because he doesn’t want to leave.

“Just because a club has put a bid in, that’s not to say Ash wants to leave – that’s far from the truth. There’s been a lot of interest in Ash and that was always going to be the case, particularly as he only has one year left on his contract.”

Sunderland are looking to improve their defensive options over the summer and have already landed right-back Billy Jones from West Brom. They face a fight to seal the permanent services of Marcos Alonso, however. The Spaniard, who was on loan from Fiorentina last season, is also wanted at West Ham.

Julian Speroni, meanwhile, has signed a new contract at Crystal Palace. The Argentine goalkeeper had been attracting interest from Gustavo Poyet after Keiren Westwood's departure at the of his deal.