Swansea City manager Garry Monk has expressed his belief that Gylfi Sigurdsson's spell at Tottenham Hotspur has improved the Iceland international as a player.

Sigurdsson spent two seasons at White Hart Lane before returning to the Swans in the summer, and Monk thinks that the playmaker has come back to Wales as a more rounded midfielder.

The Mirror quotes him as saying: "At Spurs they had a lot of players for a lot of positions and good quality players. I knew what quality he had and had played with him and seen it first-hand. But he has come back a better player.

"Spurs improved him with the game time he had there and training with that type of player. If you have got someone in your team doing it and you're next to him then you're thinking I have to put in a shift in. That's what we try to promote.

"We allow him to express himself but he is a very good worker as well. That's the bit he doesn't get credit for. He has got the assists but the amount of work rate he does is infectious."

Sigurdsson claimed an assist for Wayne Routledge as they drew 2-2 with Newcastle United on Saturday.