Swansea City, Exeter City agreement stands the test of time - View | OneFootball

Swansea City's decision to sign Matt Grimes from Exeter City in January 2015 has proven to be an excellent one

Highlights

January 2025 will mark a decade since Matt Grimes made the move to Swansea City from Exeter City, and it's fair to say that it's a transfer that has stood the test of time.

The central midfielder has been one of Swansea's best players over the course of the last five or six seasons, and signing him in January 2015 has proven to be a masterstroke by the Swans hierarchy.

Swansea were a Premier League side when they signed the then 19-year-old from the Grecians, and whilst it may have taken him a few years to get up to speed in south Wales, it's proved an incredible piece of business.

It hasn't always been plain sailing for Matt Grimes at Swansea City

Grimes was highly-rated at Exeter as a youngster after coming through the ranks, and broke into the first-team during the 2013/14 season, making 37 appearances in all competitions as an 18-year-old.

He began the 2014/15 season in the same fashion, starting every league game for Exeter before Swansea swopped in January 2015 to bring him to south Wales.

Swansea paid just £1.75million to sign the midfielder, beating competition from the likes of Liverpool, Everton and Sunderland for his signature, and it appeared to be a real coup.

However, having made the leap from League Two to the Premier League, it was clear that it would take Grimes a while to get up to speed, and he made just three top-flight appearances for Swansea during the second half of the 14/15 campaign, totaling just 42 minutes.

This meant that Swansea decided to loan him out for the second half of the 2015/16 season, and he joined Championship side Blackburn Rovers, but failed to set the world alight at Ewood Park, making just 13 appearances.

Things would get worse for Grimes, and his move to Swansea wasn't going to plan as he was unable to force his way into the side and spent the 2016/17 season on loan at Leeds United, where he flopped, playing just seven league games and attracting criticism for his poor performances.

Grimes' Swansea career appeared to be drifting away in front of him, and he had to drop to League One for the 2017/18 campaign, joining a Northampton side on loan who were relegated to League Two. However, the midfielder scored four times and registered 11 assists for the Cobblers, giving him a new lease of life, and he's never looked back.

Swansea were relegated from the Premier League in 2018, and a raft of summer departures meant they had no option but to use Grimes. It's fair to say that it was an opportunity he took with both hands, and he hasn't looked back since.

Signing Matt Grimes for £1.75million was incredible business by Swansea City

Since their relegation to the Championship in 2018, Grimes has been a mainstay in the Swansea starting XI and turned into a modern-day legend at the club, a remarkable turnaround from the summer of 2018 when he appeared to have no future in south Wales.

The midfielder played 50 times under Graham Potter during the 2018/19 campaign, even being trusted to play as a left-back and in central defence, and when Steve Cooper was appointed in the summer of 2019, he made Grimes the club captain.

Over the course of the next two seasons, Grimes led Swansea to the Championship play-offs twice and his durability and performances have made him popular with every manager who has taken over at the Swansea.com Stadium.

Between the start of the 2018/19 Championship season and the end of the 2023/24 campaign, Swansea have played 230 Championship games and Grimes has missed just four, putting into context how durable he is - with two of these games coming due to illness and suspension.

Swansea's fixtures against Leeds in August 2018 and Blackburn Rovers in October 2020 were the only times he hasn't been selected when available, and the most recent 2023/24 season saw Grimes play every minute of every single Championship game.

It's difficult to imagine a Swansea side without Grimes in it nowadays, and the £1.75million they paid to bring him to the club from Exeter nearly a decade ago has proved fantastic business.

It may have taken him a while to get up to speed, but Swansea remained patient with Grimes, and now they're reaping the rewards.