Today's media round up

5th February

The press have been quick to discuss Leon Britton's new three and a half year deal today. The midfield maestro has penned a new deal that will see him stay at the Swans until 2016. In other news, Wales Online speaks to Wales boss Chris Coleman as he wants to emulate the success of Swansea City as Wales take on Austria at the Liberty on Wednesday night. The South Wales Evening Post gets the thoughts of Michael Laudrup as Michu misses out on a call up to the Spanish squad whilst Michel Vorm is also ruled out through injury.

Wales Online
Wales boss Coleman challenges team to match Swansea City success


Wales boss Chris Coleman has challenged himself and his players to match the success of Swansea City and Cardiff City.
Coleman's side play their first game of 2013 tomorrow with Austria the guests for a Liberty Stadium friendly ahead of next month's World Cup qualifiers against Scotland and Croatia.
Wales are already virtually out of the running for a place at Brazil 2014 after losing three of their four matches to date, the solitary source of comfort being a Gareth Bale-inspired 2-1 victory over Scotland in October.
But Coleman is keen to start transmitting the success of the Welsh club scene to the national team.
"If we get Swansea and Cardiff in the Premier League - and Wrexham and Newport are also going well in the Conference - that would be absolutely fantastic for Welsh football," he said.
"We would have two teams performing in the biggest and best league in the world and not many people would have bet on that five years ago."
The rise of Swansea and Cardiff has even had senior rugby officials nervously assessing the situation, wondering what the knock-on effort could be for them and what is generally described as "the national sport in Wales"


South Wales Evening Post
He's taken the Premier League by storm ... but it's tough breaking into the best


Michael Laudrup believes Michu has only one issue as he bids to start an international career. And that is the coat of arms on his passport.
Michu will report to training in Llandarcy rather than Qatar today after being omitted from the Spain squad named by Vicente Del Bosque. But, as Laudrup points out, it is not easy to make the grade with Spain just now.
"It would have been great for Michu to have to got in there," says the Swansea manager.
"But he has one small problem -he has a Spanish passport.
"Have you looked at the squad? It is quite good.
"Fernando Torres didn't make it, (Fernando) Llorente didn't make it. "You have to remember that this is the best Spanish generation ever."
The fact that Michu has even come close to getting the nod tells everything about his success since he swapped Rayo Vallecano for English football in a £2.2 million deal last summer. Laudrup confidently predicted on the day Michu walked through the door at the Liberty Stadium that Swansea had secured a bargain. He has been proved in emphatic fashion, yet now Swansea need another big effort from their potential player of the year.


Sky Sports
Michel Vorm ruled out of Netherlands' friendly against Italy on Wednesday


Netherlands goalkeeper Michel Vorm will not feature in Wednesday's friendly against Italy due to injury.
Vorm, who joined Swansea City two years ago, will miss the game as he continues to recover from a knee injury.
The Dutch Football Association said in a statement that coach Louis van Gaal will not add a replacement to his now 19-man squad.