Michael Laudrup insists there is no urgency to sign a new contract at Swansea

The Welsh side currently sit in the top half of the table

Swansea manager Michael Laudrup believes there is no urgent need for him to extend his contract with the club.

The Dane is enjoying an excellent first season in charge at the Liberty Stadium, taking the club to new heights after building on the foundations laid by Brendan Rodgers.

The Swans sit in the top half of the Premier League table and will play in their first major cup final when they face League Two Bradford in the Capital One Cup final at Wembley later this month.

Laudrup's achievements in south Wales have already seen him linked with jobs at Real Madrid and Chelsea among others, and chairman Huw Jenkins is keen to tie his manager to a longer-term deal than his current one, which expires at the end of next season.

Swansea are keen to avoid a repeat of the departures of Rodgers and Roberto Martinez before him, and would like Laudrup to agree a one-year extension to take him through to 2015.

But with a Wembley final, important Premier League games and next week's warm-weather training camp in Dubai on the horizon, Laudrup does not believe his contract is a matter that needs to be dealt with immediately.

He said: "I think for me the present is more important than the future, we have so many things coming up now and I already have a contract for next season so it is not urgent for me.

"We have some very important things to deal with right now. I am talking to the chairman a lot of times every week and we talk about a lot of things."

Several of Laudrup's players have recently committed their futures to the club, and goalkeeper Gerhard Tremmel has become the third this week after agreeing a two-and-a-half year deal through to 2015.

He joins midfielder Leon Britton and defender Garry Monk in putting pen to paper, and Laudrup said: "It's good to get the players signed up, they are important to us.

"We need to do it quick sometimes because it is difficult to compare and compete with the salaries of other clubs.

"You never know their other possibilities, you have to ask them, but we have to be realistic and know how it is here and the structure is working well.

"We know other clubs pay more money but players sign because they want to stay here which is good for us."

Among the clubs whose financial resources dwarf Swansea are Saturday's opponents QPR, who sit bottom of the table, six points adrift of safety.

The Rs have attracted plenty of scrutiny over their outlay for the likes of Loic Remy and Christopher Samba during the January transfer window, but Laudrup does not believe it necessarily increases the pressure on Harry Redknapp.

He said: "How much pressure they are under is not a question for me to answer. That is a question for their chairman and their manager maybe, but not for me.

"I don't know how much money they have or what their budget is. Maybe the figures for QPR are huge compared to ours, but maybe for them it's normal. Every club has their way and not right or wrong."

He added: "This is an important game for us not because they are bottom, but because we want to win and we need six points to get to those famous 40 points.

"Everyone is talking about the cup final but we have two games before that and this game we have to win."

Laudrup also commented on the match-fixing scandal that has caused consternation within the game after Europol launched an investigation into 380 matches played across the continent.

And the Dane believes all those found guilty of involvement should be banned for life.

He said: "For me, if someone gets caught being paid to lose a game, they should be banned for life.

"This sport is about winning, we all want to win every game, if you receive money to lose a game you should be banned.

"If you are a player or a manager, if you get paid to lose a game you should be banned forever.

"Then players would think about the risk of getting caught, it's quite a risk to take if you are banned for life. Not like cycling where you may take something but get banned for a year or two, it should be for life."

PA