New Portsmouth signing Reuben Swann grateful for club waiting on injury and AFC Sudbury for helping him bounce back from Colchester United release

Reuben Swann has revealed his debt of gratitude to both AFC Sudbury and Portsmouth after completing a dream move to the newly-promoted second-tier club for an undisclosed fee.

The 18-year-old midfielder, who has just finished a two-year course at AFC Sudbury’s academy, began pre-season training with Pompey this week after signing a two-year contract last Wednesday.

But things could have been very different after his trial on the south coast in November, his first with a pro club since being released from Colchester United aged 16, ended in a serious injury.

Speaking to SuffolkNews, he explained: "I went out on trial in November after a good start to the season and got injured, I did my lateral meniscus (knee) and had surgery on it.

"I think the plan was to sign for them in January but obviously due to the injury that stopped that from happening but it’s happened now.”

Swann, who hails from Kesgrave on the outskirts of Ipswich, knows some clubs would have not waited, but along with AFC Sudbury, they constructed a plan that got him successfully back on the pitch before the end of the season.

"They could have easily have said no after the injury but they stuck with it and believed in me,” he said.

"Obviously now I’m here and it’s something I’ve worked hard for ever since I was a kid really and always dreamed of signing a professional contract.

"When I got released from Colchester I thought maybe it would never happen but then I went to Sudbury and did really well there, thanks to all the coaches, and now I’m here getting a pro contract so it’s a dream come true really.”

Having fully recovered from his knee surgery, Swann was able to play his part in becoming Sudbury’s first male national champions, featuring in both the semi-final and then final in early May.

The latter saw the Craig Power-managed under-19s team beat Thomas Telford School 3-0 in the England College FA Men’s Knockout Trophy Final at Accrington Stanley’s Wham Stadium to end Swann’s Sudbury experience on a big high.

"That was the perfect ending,” he said. “Obviously we went out of the Suffolk (U18) Midweek Cup, so I didn’t get to play in that final (at Portman Road).

“I hadn’t played for a long period of time and it was just getting back into it. I played in the semi-final of the national cup and then I played in the final and I lasted around 70 minutes.”

After making his first-team debut under Rick Andrews in March last year, the all-action midfielder leaves Sudbury having made five appearances for Marc Abbott’s side in the 2023/24 campaign. It included scoring two stunning goals, against Mildenhall Town in the FA Cup and Leiston to rescue a home league point.

"It’s just a shame I got injured as I would have probably played a lot more games and scored a few more goals as well as showing what I can do for the Sudbury fans,” said Swann.

The knee injury also saw him robbed of the chance to represent his country, having earned selection to England Colleges FA Men’s National Team squad for 2023/24.

But having now been catapulted back into the professional game, he will forever be grateful for the platform given to him by Sudbury after a testing crossroads in his development, where a broken leg had hindered his progress in his final year with Colchester.

Of his coaches at Sudbury – Craig Power, Danny Laws and Dave Cannon – he said: "I couldn’t speak more highly of them to be honest.

"I probably went through a bit of a tough period after being released from Colchester, I had been there so long (since aged 11). I had always wanted a scholarship there and it wasn’t the greatest of moments.

"Obviously then Sudbury came in and just helping me improve. The most important thing was just helping me to enjoy football again really and they did that really well.

"I got a lot of good game-time playing for the reserves and then they’ve obviously created a pathway to go into the first team.

"I’m obviously very grateful for my time at Sudbury."

Swann joins Tyler French - who has just transferred to National League Sutton United - Callum Watson, Joe Grimwood, Liam Bennett, Josh Blunkell and Josh Stokes in the list of Sudbury academy graduates to sign a professional contract over the past seven seasons.

With Portsmouth not having an under-23s side, Swann said he is set to discuss going on loan after a pre-season camp in Croatia.

He said: "Obviously training with the pros gives lots of different experiences and I take different ideas and skills off them to implement it into my game.

“But then in terms of game time it's obviously unrealistic to be playing straight away at the Championship level if I've just come from Step 3, so probably a good thing would be to go out on loan and keep getting that experience of men's football in a first-team environment.”