Will he stay or will he go?

Swansea fans could be forgiven for sighing wearily at the question. One of the brightest prospects at the Liberty linked with a seemingly inevitable move away.

Sounds familiar.

Of course this is the British football transfer window. Rumours about a possible Daniel James switch to Leeds United fluctuate by the minute.

£3 million to Leeds, done deal. Swansea holding out for £6 million with add-ons. Talks have broken down. James wants to go. Leeds fans distraught as James starts against Birmingham. James given farewell game against Birmingham.

What we can only really deduct from it all is Leeds are very interested. And Swansea haven’t ruled out selling.

In his post-match press conference last night, following Swansea’s 3-3 draw with Birmingham that fluctuated from the sublime to the ridiculous, Graham Potter stuck to the script.

“I’m not aware of any bids.

"His potential is big, he's got 18 months left on his contract. While of course there's speculation and market forces, I think it takes a lot of money to take him away from us," said Potter.

"That's the way I see it because we want to keep him and we want to carry on building a team."

For his part, the 21-year-old hardly performed last night like a young man playing under protest.

He gave Swansea the lead after a crisp one-two with McBurnie and then reacted angrily to being booked after a determined run back and (slightly rash) tackle before half time.

The latter bit was maybe understandable. Swansea had been pegged back by Jacques Maghoma’s equaliser before Birmingham were reduced to 10 men – Kristian Pederson sent off.

In the second period he switched from the centre to wide on the right. In one moment of pure quality he took the ball down, turned, and laid off Nathan Dyer. And did so with flawless composure.

Swansea took control again through McBurnie’s header, only to contrive to go behind through a Matt Grimes own goal (courtesy of some calamitous keeping from Erwin Mulder), and a curling effort from Che Adams.

Late on James was pivotal as Swansea pressed to draw a game they should have sown up long before. Eventually they did through McBurnie’s close range strike.

Overall, it was a telling contribution from the James - the Jack Army can only hope it wasn’t his last

Relegation from the Premiership, as catastrophic as it was justifiably portrayed, at least brought about the chance to start afresh. To blood young players, to build for the future without the debilitating pressure prompted by a top flight relegation battle.

After all, given the player exodus in the summer, the above principles were ones the new manager had little choice but to embrace.

Given his lack of resources, Potter has done a remarkable job to have the club 11th in the Championship heading into February and James has been integral to that.

Pace, movement, a willingness to run at players, he’s provided the sort of spark and threat the club badly missed at the tail end of their Premier League stay.

His solitary Welsh cap in November was more than a token gesture. A big future for club and country awaits.

No new faces will arrive at the club in January, few surprises there of course. But if owners Jason Levien and Steve Kaplan were to hinder Potter further by allowing one of his shining lights to leave, it wouldn’t be questionable, it would be nigh on betrayal.

Following his 22nd minute opener last night, 'Daniel James is a Jack' swiftly reverberated around the Liberty.

If the afore mentioned owners have even the slightest intention of moving the club forward, that song will still be valid come Friday.