Swansea sign Olympiakos defender Abbey on loan

Nelson Abbey made his Reading debut as a 17-year-old in 2020

Swansea City have signed Olympiakos’ England Under-20 centre-back Nelson Abbey on loan for the rest of the season.

Abbey, 20, left Reading to join Greek side Olympiakos for an undisclosed fee in January, when the Royals needed to raise funds because of their financial problems.

But the Reading-born player has now been allowed to join Swansea with Europa Conference League champions Olympiakos keen for him to play Championship football.

"I think his signing makes us a stronger squad," said Swansea head coach Luke Williams.

"He has key performance data that we really like in terms of being able to recover the ground behind him, because we are often very high up the pitch.

"He has shown really good one-v-one ability to defend and he shows a really good attitude towards having the ball, which is where some defenders feel uncomfortable."

Abbey made 31 senior appearances for Reading after coming through the club's academy, and wore the captain's armband in League One before leaving the Royals.

He was also linked with Luton Town - who at that stage were a Premier League club - during the January window.

Abbey made four appearances for Olympiakos in the second half of last season but was an unused substitute as they began the new Greek Super League season last weekend.

Nelson Abbey is Swansea's first loan signing this season, after they finished the last campaign with six loan players on their books

“He is a very good age," Williams added.

"He is a very bright, intelligent guy and we like that because we are heavy on the coaching and the meetings we have.

“I think his club have owners who understand the EFL very well.

"He is a player who is highly regarded at both clubs. They feel like this is a really good opportunity for him. They wanted to know a lot about us and how we are trying to play.”

Swansea have been in desperate need of defensive reinforcements, with Ben Cabango and Harry Darling their only senior centre-back options after the summer exits of Nathan Wood and Bashir Humphreys.

Williams does have left-sided defender Kristian Pedersen as a central defensive option, after he returned to Wales following a loan spell at Sheffield Wednesday.

But it remains to be seen whether the Denmark international will still be at Swansea when the transfer window closes on 30 August.

Abbey is Swansea's fifth signing of the summer window after Lawrence Vigouroux, Eom Ji-Sung, Goncalo Franco and Zan Vipotnik.

They are also working on a deal for French winger Florian Bianchini.