£500k, Chelsea deal helped Swansea City secure Premier League riches: View | OneFootball

Swansea City signed Scott Sinclair in the summer of 2010 and he proved an excellent addition

In the summer of 2010, Swansea City appointed Brendan Rodgers after Paulo Sousa departed for Leicester City and Rodgers looked to use his connections to make a statement signing.

Rodgers had previously been Chelsea's reserve team manager between 2006 and 2008, and he used his vast knowledge of the club's young players to bring Scott Sinclair to Swansea in August 2010.

Sinclair, who was 21 at the time, joined the club for an initial fee of just £500,000, but with add-ons, meaning it could exceed the £1 million mark, which Swansea hadn't surpassed at the time.

Despite being a youngster who had made just 14 appearances for Chelsea, he was vastly experienced in senior football already thanks to loan spells with the likes of Plymouth Argyle, QPR, Charlton Athletic, Birmingham City, Crystal Palace, and Wigan Athletic, and it looked like a serious coup for Swansea.

Over the next two seasons, it's fair to say that Sinclair certainly didn't disappoint the Jack Army.

Scott Sinclair proved a bargain signing for Swansea City

The 2010/11 season was Swansea's third in the Championship, and they had done well for a newly-promoted side, finishing eighth and seventh respectively in their first two seasons, but it remained to be seen how they'd fare under new boss Rodgers.

The signing of Sinclair suggested that Swansea weren't messing about, and the winger made his debut in a 4-0 win over Preston North End in what was their second league fixture of the season.

It didn't take long for the former Chelsea man to get amongst the goals, and he scored four league goals between the 28th August and the 28th of September, with a hat-trick against Peterborough United in the League Cup thrown in for good measure as well.

It quickly became apparent that Swansea had a serious player on their hands, and that he was one of the best players in the division, making the initial fee of £500k they had paid for him look like a bargain.

After missing out on the play-offs in their first two Championship campaigns, Sinclair helped the Welsh side to a fourth-place finish, scoring 19 league goals, and the best was yet to come from him.

Swansea recorded a 3-1 win over Nottingham Forest in the play-off semi-final, and they were now one game away from completing a meteoric rise from the bottom of the Football League and reaching the Premier League in less than a decade.

If there were any concerns that a game of the play-off final's magnitude would be too much for the youngster, then he soon proved people wrong as he scored a hat-trick to help Swansea to a 4-2 win over Reading and lead the Swans to the Premier League for the first time.

It capped an incredible debut campaign for the 22-year-old where he scored 27 goals in 50 appearances across all competitions, and it's fair to say that had Swansea not been promoted he'd have left in the summer of 2011.

Sinclair and Swansea had no problems with adapting to top-flight football either, and he scored eight times as well as registering four assists in the Premier League as his side finished in a very respectable 11th place.

Rodgers, the man who brought him to the club, departed that summer and was replaced by Michael Laudrup, with Sinclair attracting plenty of transfer interest thanks to being young, English and talented.

He started the 2012/13 season on the bench for Swansea as they kicked off their campaign away at QPR, but he came off the bench and scored their final goal in a 5-0 rout.

That was to be his final appearance for the club, and he completed a move to Premier League champions Manchester City for a fee of £8million, signing a four-year deal at the Etihad Stadium.

Not only did Sinclair help Swansea reach the Premier League, but he also made them a huge profit. A fantastic bit of business, and the winger is still fondly remembered in SA1.

Scott Sinclair's career after leaving Swansea City

Sinclair's time at Manchester City didn't go as planned, and he struggled to break into the side on a regular basis thanks to the plethora of quality at the club.

He spent time on loan at West Brom and Aston Villa, before joining the latter on a permanent basis in 2015, but Villa endured a tough 2015/16 season campaign and were relegated, leading to Sinclair's departure.

He joined Celtic in 2016 and really found a permanent home, becoming one of the Scottish Premiership's best players, and helping his side to eight major trophies in his three-and-a-half years north of the border.

He returned to the Championship with Preston in January 2020, spending two years with the Lilywhites before being released in the summer of 2022.

From there, Sinclair returned to Bristol Rovers where his career started, and despite being 35 years old, the former Swansea man is still going strong in League One.

It could be argued that leaving Swansea was the wrong move for his career, and he could well have become a senior England international had he remained at the club or signed for someone other than Manchester City.

However, Sinclair has enjoyed a successful career, and the fact he's still going strong for his boyhood club in League One shows he feels that he still has something to give.

It's a long time ago now, but that £500k Swansea paid for Sinclair proved an incredible bit of business, and it ensured promotion to the Premier League and the riches that go with it.