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Swansea City have started contract negotiations to extend South Korean midfielder Ki Sung-Yeung's stay at the Liberty Stadium.

Ki was sent out on loan last season to Sunderland by former Swans boss Michael Laudrup and is in the last year of his contract at Swansea.

But the 25-year-old is a part of new manager Garry Monk's plans.

Ki joined Swansea in the summer of 2012 from Celtic in a £6m deal that broke the club's transfer record.

He made 38 appearances in his first season and was in the team that won the Capital One Cup, beating Bradford City in the final.

The midfielder joined the Black Cats on a season-long loan deal in August 2013 and made 27 league appearances as they finished 14th in the Premier League, two places below Swansea.

Ki has been linked strongly with a move to Premier League rivals Aston Villa, while Sunderland manager Gus Poyet intimated in January of his wish to make the player's loan deal a permanent move.

Swansea chairman Huw Jenkins has previously said the club are keen for Ki to commit his long-term future, with talks now underway as the player has returned from World Cup duty.

"We want to keep him, but obviously he has got to want to stay here and sign a deal with us," Jenkins said.

''We have had a couple of inquiries about Ki, but our first objective is to get him back here and sit down with Garry Monk to ask him where he goes from here."