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Nelson Abbey has barely featured for Swansea City since joining on loan from Olympiacos in the summer

It's fair to say that Nelson Abbey's season-long loan move to Swansea City hasn't quite gone to plan yet.

It looked like a real coup for Swansea in the summer when they announced the signing of the 21-year-old on loan from Greek giants Olympiacos, but despite being involved in every single matchday squad since arriving, Abbey has barely featured.

This is someone who captained Reading in League One at the age of 19 and earned a move to a side who won the Europa Conference League last season, so there's clearly a player in there, but he hasn't been given the chance to show what he's capable of so far.

Given Swansea's lack of depth in defence, Abbey would have hoped to play regularly in the Championship this season, but 11 games in, and he's still yet to make his league debut.

This clearly isn't what Olympiacos would have had in mind for the youngster, and they're surely regretting the decision to sanction his move to SA1 now.

Abbey has been a Swansea City player for over two months now, and he's played just 58 minutes of football.

He made his debut in an EFL Cup tie against Wycombe Wanderers, a chastening night for Swansea as they were knocked out of the cup by a team in the division below, and it's probably fair to say that Abbey didn't put his best foot forward that night.

The 21-year-old was poor and taken off after 58 minutes, but he's yet to feature since, being an unused substitute in every game.

While it wasn't the ideal start to life in Swansea, surely he deserves another opportunity at some point, and neither Abbey or Olympiacos would have expected the move to have gone this badly so far.

It shouldn't have been much of a surprise that the defender looked rusty in his one and only game for the club as he'd only just joined Swansea, and had barely played any football since joining Olympiacos in January.

He showed during his time in League One that he could be an excellent player with a run of games under his belt, and it's no coincidence that clubs like Olympiacos, and Luton Town who were in the Premier League were keeping tabs on him previously.

Olympiacos will want their player to be playing regularly, and if the situation at Swansea doesn't change drastically in the next couple of months, it wouldn't be any surprise to see Abbey recalled in the January transfer window.

With Swansea out of the EFL Cup, it's hard to see where Abbey's next opportunity in a Swansea shirt comes from before the FA Cup third round in January, and his parent club will no doubt be frustrated by what's transpired in south Wales.

Nelson Abbey deserves another chance for Swansea City

In fairness to Swansea's defence this season, they've been excellent and have conceded just seven goals in 11 games, not conceding more than one goal in a game this season.

Centre-backs Ben Cabango and Harry Darling have been at the heart of Swansea's impressive defensive record, but they can't play every minute of every game and fatigue will eventually catch up with them.

Given Swansea's small squad, many would have expected Luke Williams to rotate the squad for midweek fixtures away to Sheffield United and Sheffield Wednesday, and while he did make a couple of changes, the centre-back pairing of Cabango and Darling remained intact.

This suggests that Williams may not have too much faith in Abbey, and perhaps doesn't trust him to start Championship fixtures.

However, Abbey won't improve unless he's playing football, and sitting on the bench every week without being given a chance to show what he can do won't be much good for his confidence.

The 21-year-old was exceptional for Reading, and it must be remembered that he's a youngster who's barely played since January, so patience will be needed, and he certainly shouldn't be judged so harshly from his one game against Wycombe.

If Abbey is recalled in January, it means Swansea will be back in the market to find a replacement for him, and the next couple of months are crucial for him if he's to remain at the club post-January.

His time at the club has been a miserable one so far, but it's not too late to turn it around, and he may just need one chance to show what he can do in the league.