Swansea City have been dealt a potential blow in their bid to keep Steve Cooper at the Liberty Stadium this summer.

What's been said?

That's according to The Sun journalist Alan Nixon, who revealed in a post on Twitter that the Swans manager would not cost more to appoint in terms of compensation than the Barnsley manager Valerien Ismael.

Both Cooper and Ismael have been linked with the vacant managerial position at Crystal Palace in recent weeks, while West Bromwich Albion remain on the hunt for a new manager of their own following the collapse of a move to appoint David Wagner.

Fans will be gutted

Considering the impressive job Cooper has done since his arrival at Swansea back in June of 2019, the fact the 41-year-old will not cost a potential suitor more than Barnsley's Ismael - something that would only appear in increase the chances of the Swans manager's departure - is sure to come as gutting news for fans of the club.

Indeed, Cooper has led Swansea to a top-six finish in each of his two seasons at the club, and, although both play-off campaigns ultimately ended in failure - losing to Brentford in the semi-final in 2019/20 and, rather unfortunately, Brentford again in the final in 2020/21 - things very much appear to be on the up under the former England U17 manager at the Liberty Stadium.

Alongside these impressive league finishes, Cooper's reputation for developing young players has also seen clubs approach Swansea about the possibility of taking their youngsters on loan, while his work on the training ground saw the club concede the fewest goals from set-pieces in their 2019/20 Championship campaign, as well as earning praise for their impressive style of football.

As such, if Swansea were to lose the services of the 41-year-old whom Andre Ayew dubbed a "quality" coach this summer, it would very much appear as if the club's hierarchy would have an incredibly difficult - if not impossible - task of finding a suitable replacement to take over from Cooper.

It's exactly why the news that the compensation fee needed to prise Cooper out from Swansea not being higher than Ismael's, is worrying news for fans and the club.

In other news: Swansea dealt huge transfer blow over £4.5m-rated beast that'll leave Cooper furious