Paul Clement has warned in-demand Gylfi Sigurdsson to remember his failed spell at Tottenham before rushing to leave Swansea City.
Sigurdsson won Swansea's Player of the Year award for a second straight season after his superb Premier League haul of nine goals and 13 assists helped them to secure survival.
But Everton have been heavily linked with a £25million move for the Iceland international, prompting Clement's advice to think carefully after he struggled for regular games during his two years at Spurs between 2012 and 2014.
"I think Gylfi has a unique situation," said Clement.
"He was here on loan and then he went to Tottenham, which was set to be the next step in his career.
"It didn't work out, he came back here and has done really well. He cannot have another situation like he had at Tottenham, where he potentially goes somewhere and is in and out of the side, and does not gather any momentum.
"He is going to have that in his mind, if he is going to make the next step it has to be a positive one.
"Otherwise he is better staying here, being a key player and building something around moving this club forward."
Clement feels Sigurdsson faces a dilemma over whether to be a star player who is relied upon for a club like Swansea, or play a lesser role for a club with bigger ambitions.
"A lot of players have to make that decision in their careers," he said. "I am not necessarily talking about Gylfi, but do they want to be a smaller fish in a big pond or a big fish in a small pond?
"He has something special with Iceland, too, where he is a key man. That's what he has got here at Swansea.
"He has a lot of ambition and I can understand that. I hope he stays here, but I also hope in the future he gets the opportunity to play for a really big club."
“I don’t think a major overhaul is required. Of course we want to strengthen, but I don’t see it being a lot of players." May 18, 2017
Clement hopes Swansea's fine form in the second half of the season will show Sigurdsson they will not be fighting relegation again 2017-18 after the 27-year-old insisted he was not actively seeking an exit.
"We want him to be able to see from the second half of the season that he is not going to have another situation like this one," added the Swans boss.
"But I was also interested to see his words that he had enjoyed the pressure in a weird kind of way. In a sick kind of way really, it is pretty tortuous but the pressure is there, every game is important. Nobody wants to play in a game every week where it does not matter."
Swansea conclude the season on home soil against West Brom, having lost 3-1 at The Hawthorns in December.
