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John Swift proved to be an extremely shrewd acquisition for the Royals, after he joined on a free transfer.

Reading conducted some excellent business under Brian Tevreden during the summer of 2016, with John Swift joining as one of many additions.

Not every move worked out, with Danzell Graveberch barely making an impact during his time in Berkshire and Sandro Wieser failing to make a single competitive appearance for the Royals.

However, some of their other business was very smart.

Joey van den Berg was an effective figure in midfield and defence, Roy Beerens contributed more than he gets credit for and Yakou Meite proved to be a real bargain.

Tyler Blackett was also a fairly decent signing and the Berkshire side did a fantastic job to get a deal over the line for Leicester City's Liam Moore for just £1m.

Overall, Moore's time at the Select Car Leasing Stadium wasn't viewed as a huge success, but he was a real asset during his first season at the club and played a big part in the Royals' journey to the 2017 Championship play-off final.

Their most successful signing during the summer of 2016 proved to be Swift, who joined on a free transfer following his departure from Chelsea.

He was just 21 at the time of his arrival and having secured some senior experience out on loan, he looked set to be a smart addition.

John Swift's previous loan spells

With the player unlikely to win much game time at Stamford Bridge, he was loaned out to then-League One side Swindon Town back in January 2015, registering two goals and three assists in 19 appearances for the Robins.

Unfortunately for Swindon, he missed the play-off second leg semi-final and the final, something that would have been a major blow to the player too.

This temporary move came after a disappointing loan spell at Rotherham United where he barely played and didn't really make an impact.

However, following a better spell at Swindon, he spent the 2015/16 campaign at Brentford, registering seven goals and four assists in 28 competitive appearances for the Bees.

He left Chelsea in the summer of 2016 and it was unclear where his next destination was, until the Royals snapped him up on a three-year contract.

John Swift proved to be an excellent addition for Reading FC

In truth, Swift had low moments during all of his loan spells, and was even dropped by the Bees after a social media controversy.

But he was a real success in Berkshire, even if his consistency was lacking at times.

Making more than 200 appearances over a six-year spell, that is a very decent record and that shows he was able to stay fit for a decent chunk of his time at the SCL Stadium, even though some fans thought he had spent more time out injured.

Aside from the inconsistency, Swift proved to be a very shrewd acquisition, and not just because he was a game-changer from free-kicks.

He was also a very technically gifted player for the Berkshire club, helping to unlock defenders with his passing and crossing skills.

It could even be argued that the Royals were quite reliant on the midfielder at times - and in fairness to the player - he performed on a number of big occasions.

He will be gutted that he wasn't able to make a difference in the 2017 play-off final against Huddersfield Town, but the midfielder proved to be vital during the club's fight against relegation in 2022.

Registering goals and assists in narrow wins against Preston North End and Birmingham City in February 2022 and also playing a considerable part in goals against Blackburn Rovers (H) and Barnsley (A), Swift helped the Royals to register some vital points.

These points helped the Berkshire side to remain afloat in the second tier, reinforcing just how important he was for them.

It would be difficult to class him as a legend, considering he wasn't part of a successful era and did show inconsistency, but he deserves to be applauded every time he returns to the SCL Stadium.

He was a valuable contributor to the cause - and the decision to recruit him was a smart one.