Swansea City's £1.75m Exeter City agreement has proven to be an utter bargain | OneFootball

The 2015 deal to sign Matt Grimes has been nothing short of a bargain.

When Swansea City bought a 19-year-old midfielder from Exeter City for £1.75m back in 2015, even they likely wouldn’t have foreseen just how much of a bargain the deal would turn out to be.

Matt Grimes made the move to Swansea during the season that saw them record their highest ever finish in the Premier League (8th place back in 2014-15).

He arrived in South Wales as a youngster who had already made over 60 senior appearances for his hometown club Exeter and now, several loans later, has become a very consistent, reliable Championship midfielder.

One of many talented players in recent years from the Grecians’ production line, Grimes has become the Swans’ club captain and a staple of their side in recent seasons.

Grimes’ loan moves were crucial in his development

The deal to sign Grimes has turned into an absolute bargain for Swansea.

The midfielder’s ability was clear to see from a young age at Exeter. He was described by his manager at the time, Paul Tisdale, who had already managed Exeter for eight years when Grimes broke through, as “the best young player we’ve produced at Exeter since I’ve been here.”

Grimes performed so well for the Grecians that he was named in the PFA’s League Two Team of The Year in 2014/15, despite moving on to Swansea for a reported £1.75 million, (according to the BBC) halfway through the campaign.

At the time, Grimes was City’s most expensive sale of all-time, although that was before the deals to sell Ollie Watkins and Ethan Ampadu in 2017/18.

He came off the bench as a stoppage time substitute in Swansea’s 3-1 Premier League win over Hull City in April 2015 for his first taste of top-flight football.

However, it took Grimes several loan spells before he fully broke into the first-team at the Liberty Stadium.

He spent the second half of the 2015-16 in the Championship with Blackburn Rovers, before a difficult loan spell at Leeds the following season saw him make just 12 appearances.

Grimes’ Leeds spell served as a setback in his development, so for the 2016-17 season, he was sent to Northampton Town in League One. He made 47 appearances and scored four goals for the Cobblers, but was unable to save them from relegation to League Two.

When he returned to Swansea, Grimes’ career got the big break it needed.

Grimes has proven to be a bargain

Since the Swans’ relegation from the Premier League ahead of the 2018-19 season, Grimes has become a staple of their side.

That season, Grimes scored his first Swansea goal in over three-and-a-half years in an FA Cup tie against Man City, with his last strike coming in an EFL Cup win over York City in August 2015.

He made 50 appearances for Swansea in all competitions in 2018-19, and hasn’t looked back since then.

Now 29, he has become one of the most recognisable players within Swansea’s squad. He’s now into his seventh season as a genuine first-team player with the Swans, and he’s yet to record a season of less than 45 appearances.

In four of those seven seasons, he’s featured in every single league game.

He was named as the club captain ahead of the 2019-20 season, having won Swansea's Player of The Year award the season prior, and has held the armband ever since.

He signed a new two-year contract extension in the summer, shortly after making his 300th Swans appearance, and the midfielder still looks capable of playing in the Championship for several years to come.

He’s arguably become one of the second tier’s best midfield performers, and although there are players with greater technical ability, few are as reliable and dependable as Grimes has been for Swansea over the years.