Back in November, with Reading manager Veljko Paunovic admitting that talks over a new contract were going nowhere fast, many a Leeds United supporter was rubbing their hands together in anticipation for one of the EFL’s brightest talents arriving at Elland Road.
“John Swift will be a Leeds United player in January,” one wrote.
Four months on, that over-confident Leeds fan may be hoping that no one followed his advice to ‘Save the tweet’.
Because not only did Swift not stay at Reading beyond in January. It looks increasingly unlikely that he’ll be posing for photos at Thorpe Arch come July either.
It is impossible not to view Leeds’ interest in the former Chelsea youngster through the prism of Marcelo Bielsa.
And according to The Athletic reporter Phil Hay, as well-connected and knowledgeable a local journalist as you’re going to find on UK soil, if Swift was to arrive in West Yorkshire, he’d have arrived at Bielsa’s request.
“Bielsa has liked Swift for a while,” Hay wrote during a Q&A session for The Athletic.
Is the John Swift deal dead?
Now, we’re not suggesting that Jesse Marsch does not possess a deep and detailed knowledge of English football.
But it’s hard to imagine that, during his time at Red Bull Salzburg and RB Leipzig, the 48-year-old American was making space in his already busy schedule to tune into events taking place at the Madejski Stadium at 3pm on Saturday afternoon.
According to Jeunes Footeaux, one of Leeds’ first transfer targets of the Marsch era is not Swift but 23-year-old CF Montreal midfielder Djordje Mihailovic.
USA international Mihailovic is likely to be a player Marsch, a former New York Red Bulls coach, will be rather more au fait with.
Who will Jesse Marsch sign?
Mihailovic also plays in the same attacking midfield role as Swift at Reading. The same can be said of Brenden Aaronson. Marsch’s former Salzburg schemer, who Leeds bid £15 million for in the winter.
Now that we know Marsch was always one of the leading candidates to succeed Bielsa at Elland Road, it’s no stretch to suggest that a January bid for Aaronson was made with Marsch’s appointment in mind.
According to The Star, Swift has admirers elsewhere in the Premier League. At Burnley and Wolverhampton Wanderers in particular.
Any hopes he might have had of swapping Reading for Leeds, however, appear to have followed Bielsa out the door.
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