On Sunday, Talk Reading posted a statistic on Twitter. One which summed up the remarkable season John Swift is enjoying at the Madejski Stadium.
Swift, they pointed out, is the first Royals player to produce at least eight goals and eight assists in a single Championship season since Garath McCleary all the way back in 2016/17.
Now, that is impressive enough. But when you consider that we are only a third of the way through the campaign, then those numbers look all the more remarkable.
Veljko Paunovic’s Reading may have responded better than many expected following the £8 million departure of teen sensation Michael Olise to Crystal Palace last summer.
Life without Swift, however, is enough to keep the most optimistic of Reading fans up at night.
Will John Swift leave Reading for Leeds United?
He’s scored five more goals than their next highest scorer. Former Barcelona whizzkid Alen Halilovic is his closest rival when it comes to assists too – and he’s managed six fewer than the one-time Chelsea starlet.
No one produces more shots per game, more dribbles or more key passes, according to WhoScored.
With Lucas Joao and Yakou Meite injured, and with Ovie Ejaria and George Puskas out of sort, no one else in Reading’s squad is capable of producing the kind of match-changing magic that has become Swift’s MO this term; see that thumping free-kick against Peterborough, that weaving solo goal against Blackburn.
But with Swift out of contract next summer, Reading may have no choice but to start planning for life without arguably the Championship’s most technically gifted midfielder.
Especially when you consider they were docked six points by the EFL just last week after finding themselves in a perilous financial situation may have no choice
“We have a complicated situation due to our already-known financial situation and (transfer) embargo that we have,” Paunovic admitted recently.
“We are allowed to negotiate with our players who are ending contracts but it’s not easy in the circumstances.
“At this point there is nothing close to closing a deal.”
Leeds United are being linked, once again, with a player who caught Marcelo Bielsa’s eye back in 2019, via the Sheffield Star.
And while Swift’s agent insisted on Monday night that Leeds are yet to make an approach, he did admit that a mid-season switch to Elland Road would be ‘good’ for his client.
Leeds’ gain would certainly be Reading’s loss. Especially with Paunovic and co glancing nervously over their shoulder at the relegation zone.
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