Derby County and Stoke City target's key to ever-present Portsmouth opening after West Brom arrival
He’s the only Pompey player to have featured in every game this season, with the former Chelsea and Reading man pinpointing a key to being ready to produce that run.
John Swift believes his summer pre-season training camp with the PFA has allowed him to hit the ground running at Pompey.
The Blues new boy has highlighted the importance of the pre-season residential operation in Leicestershire in giving him the base fitness required going into the Championship.
Swift was one of the scores of out-of-contract players who used the 10-week camp which ended this week, ahead of sealing a deal at Fratton Park.
The midfielder left West Brom this summer as a free agent after three years at The Hawthorns, but didn’t immediately choose his next club as he weighed up his future.
Swift had Championship interest from the likes of Stoke City and Derby County, with sides in Turkey, Saudi Arabia and the MLS trailing the Gosport lad.
It was Pompey the 30-year-old eventually joined, but that deal wasn’t finalised to the middle of July meaning Swift would’ve been playing catch-up with his team-mates in terms of fitness.
He spent two weeks at the Champneys Springs Hotel & Spa, however, which allowed the former Chelsea man to join his new club in a good place in terms of his conditioning.
It has certainly worked out for Swift, with the creative talent the only Pompey player to start all five of their fixtures so far this season.
Swift said: ‘The two weeks I had with the PFA before I came here was ideal.
‘It was beneficial for me, 100 per cent, because you just end up running around a football pitch and not doing anything.
‘But being there for four days a week just kept me ticking and does for players until they finally can get a club.
‘There’s about 40 players there every week, players leave and then players join.
‘You’re playing against good opposition and it just gives you a good step into going into a club and not being completely on the back foot when it comes to fitness.’
Swift isn’t the only player with Pompey links to utilise the facilities on offer from the PFA to its members this summer. Ben Stevenson and Ellis Harrison have both spent time at the training camp and featured in games organised as part of the operation.
Harrison went on to secure a deal with former club Bristol Rovers off the back of his involvement there, with the £400,000 Pompey signing a 12-month deal with The Gas and bagging three goals in the past four games for the League Two side.
Stevenson is still to find himself a home and featured for the PFA side in their 1-1 draw with Manchester United under-21s this week.
The League One title winner will be hopeful of finding a new employer, as club’s attentions turn to out-of-contract players following the transfer window’s close on Monday night.
Former Pompey attacker Aiden O’Brien used the training camp last year and went on to gain a contract with Irish side Shelbourne before facing Pompey in pre-season after agreeing a two-year deal with National League outfit Woking.