John Swift is having a Portsmouth medical today ahead of a free transfer to Fratton Park. The 30-year-old, who grew up just a stone’s throw away in Gosport, has been unattached since his West Bromwich Albion contract expired at the end of June.
But he is now set to seal an emotional return to the club he spent one year with as a schoolboy before moving on to the Chelsea academy. Express Sport understands that Swift has agreed a two-year contract with Pompey which includes the option to extend his stay for a further 12 months. And, barring an unexpected twist, everything is in place for the move to be signed off.
Portsmouth’s owners have approved the switch, which will ensure Swift continues his career in the Championship after spending all of the last decade in the second tier.
The south coast outfit held talks with Swift’s camp earlier in the window, and although they broke down relatively quickly, they have since been revived during a recent pre-season training camp in Slovakia.
Swift scored 16 goals in 115 appearances across three seasons at West Brom, which followed 33 goals in 202 appearances during a long stint at Reading. The 30-year-old midfielder spent nine years on Chelsea’s books as a youngster, making one senior appearance in the Premier League.
Since it became clear towards the back-end of last season that Swift had been deemed surplus to requirements at the Hawthorns, a host of clubs have shown interest in taking him on a free, including sides in Scotland, Germany, Turkey and England.
But it’s Pompey who are set to win the race, which will be welcome news for local lad Swift, who spoke about his desire to resolve his future at a PFA-led pre-season training camp earlier this week.
“There’s nothing worse than just being sat at home, going to the gym, waiting for your agent to call, hoping that it’s sooner rather than later,” he said.
“So I’d rather come in and just do this. It’s somewhere to come, get back fit and get on the pitch, because you can’t replicate what you do out there in the gym. As soon as you turn 30 I think the options become a little bit sparse, but now I’m excited to see where I go next.”
Portsmouth boss John Mousinho will also be pleased to welcome an established star, having said: “What we want to do is make sure that we sign players that are going to impact the first team. We’ve got a really solid base in terms of the squad and what we want to do on top of that is just add players who can come in and challenge for the starting line-up.”