Swansea City stars must not think about Gylfi Sigurdsson saga says Leroy Fer amid Everton interest

Swansea City midfielder Leroy Fer has called on his teammates to not think about Everton target Gylfi Sigurdsson and focus on club matters as they prepare for their Premier League opener against Southampton.

Sigurdsson, 27, has made it clear that he wishes to leave south Wales and join Ronald Koeman's men on Merseyside this summer but Everton and Swansea have so far failed to conclude a deal for the Icelandic international.

It was reported that the deal was set to collapse due to lack of progress over the fee, but it is understood that the Toffees still remain confident of signing Sigurdsson, valued at £50m (€55.3m, $64.8m) by Paul Clement's men.

Everton and Swansea had verbally agreed a deal worth £45m for the former Reading playmaker earlier this summer, but that soon went awry when the Merseysiders attempted to renegotiate terms.

The speculation over Sigurdsson's future has blighted Swansea's pre-season schedule, but Fer, who would have joined Everton in 2013 if not for a failed medical, has urged his cohorts to put the Sigurdsson episode out of their minds and concentrate fully on performing well for manager Paul Clement.

"We have to put it out of our minds, he is a contracted player at Swansea, he is training with us but as a group we have to leave it to others to solve, we have to focus on playing and training well for the club." Fer told WalesOnline.

Arguably Sigurdsson's greatest strength is his deliveries from dead balls. The former Tottenham star provided a number of assists from set pieces last season as he helped guide the Swans to survival, but Fer thinks Tom Carroll will be able to pick up from where he left off if he does leave for pastures new this summer.

"Tom is very good, he has got some excellent deliveries from his left foot," Fer added. "That is different to Gylfi but he had two assists from corners against Sampdoria and he is a player that give provide really good free-kicks and corners too.

"He is excellent at set-pieces, we know Gylfi is a miss but we have to carry on and Tom has got very good quality."