Reading FC supporters will have a wandering eye on Swansea City this season: View | OneFootball

Nelson Abbey is a player that the Royals' fanbase will be keeping an eye on in the coming months, with the player making the move to Swansea.

League One side Reading will be focused on their own situation at this point, with work to be done both on and off the pitch.

After making a promising start to the campaign, their 3-0 away loss at Wrexham was extremely disappointing, and many lessons will need to be learned from that setback in North Wales.

Going forward, the Royals needed to be more lethal, and there's also work to be done defensively, with all three goals being preventable.

Many fans will argue that the referee was poor on the day, but improvements need to be made ahead of the international break and during it.

Off the field, the ownership situation has prevented the club from making any signings during the summer transfer window and it's clear that some additions will need to be made, especially after seeing a number of first-teamers depart this year.

Both in January and the summer, the Berkshire side have seen some important players leave, with Nelson Abbey, Tom Holmes, Tom McIntyre and Caylan Vickers ealing exits during the former window.

This summer, they have been able to retain most of their key men, but their former loanees have departed and Femi Azeez has completed a move to Millwall.

Considering how important Azeez was for much of last term, he will be a miss, and many fans were upset when Abbey left too.

Nelson Abbey's 2023/24 campaign at Reading

The centre-back was one of the first names on the teamsheet for the Royals during the first half of the 2023/24 campaign, often starting alongside Tyler Bindon, as Ruben Selles opted to drop Holmes and McIntyre from the starting lineup.

Abbey impressed on numerous occasions and put in a very memorable performance against Cheltenham Town in August 2023, with his contributions helping the Berkshire side to secure a much-needed 1-0 win. His name was sung at the end of the game - and he put in an excellent man of the match performance.

After starting the campaign poorly with two losses in their opening two games, this was a crucial victory that helped to raise spirits.

He performed well on a number of occasions, but the Royals' defence was still leaky and that's one reason why he had some critics.

Regardless of this, his move to Olympiacos in January was seen as a major negative, and this is a move that hasn't exactly benefitted any party so far.

Having failed to secure that much game time in Greece, he has been loaned out to Swansea City this summer.

Abbey has many excellent attributes.

His speed is one of his best assets, with that allowing him to drive forward with the ball positively and also get back into position.

He used his pace on a number of occasions to win 50:50 challenges and that will be a real asset for the Swans, who will want the young defender to cut out danger and keep as many clean sheets for his team as possible.

His strength for a young player is also a real boost, with the centre-back often showing the right level of aggression to win the ball without conceding fouls.

That combination of speed and strength worked to his advantage at the Select Car Leasing Stadium, as well as his ability on the ball.

With the ball at his feet, he can pass the ball well and also drive forward with his dribbling skills.

However, it must also be said that he only kept two clean sheets in 22 league games.

Although others alongside him in defence were also partly culpable for that, he isn't blameless.

Many Royals fans will be fascinated to see whether he can make the step up to the Championship successfully, because he has some good attributes, but it won't be easy for him to adapt to life in the second tier straight away.

He is clearly a promising player though and considering he's only 21 and has represented England at a youth international level, he will only get better.