In December 2020, young defender Nelson Abbey, put pen to paper on his first professional contract with the Royals.

Abbey made his first team debut for the Royals in September 2020; just a fortnight after celebrating his 17th birthday, when he came off the bench in the Carabao Cup to become the 63^rd graduate of our youth set-up to add his name to our Academy Honours Board.

On the international scene, Abbey was called into an England Under-17 squad in February 2020, to feature in wins over the Ukraine and Russia – and he was drafted into in an Under-18 training camp with the Three Lions later that year.

He began the 2020-21 season by playing Premier League 2 football for our Under-23s, but his year was brought to an end when he suffered an injury that saw him sidelined for the remainder of the term.

2023-24 saw Abbey play a pivotal role in the back line of the first team, initially captaining the side to a rampant 4-0 win over Millwall at the Den in the Carabao Cup.

This earned him a call up for regular first-team football, featuring regularly in League One under Rubén Sellés, often skippering the side.