Six Signings For Reading to Ponder

Article by Charlie Frith

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Ponder. It’s time for Reading to do some pondering. We’re in a rather sticky situation at this point in time. With financial fair play breathing down our necks, there is a certain amount of thinking to do over signings. Whilst this time last year, Sir John geared us up for a window with money to spend, this year, in order not to disappoint us again, we’ve been told not to expect much. As with last year, the squad needs strengthening. As with last year we need a forward. As with last year, we need a left back. So I’ve hand picked a few players we should be taking a look at.

Up top:

Chris Wood
Age: 23

For his age, Chris W is a mighty experienced player. A bit of background first, he started his career at Waikato FC in native New Zealand. He joined West Bromwich Albion on trial and found himself scoring goal after goal in their youth set up. After stepping up to the reserve squad, he continued his super form and made his first team debut in April 2009. He’s played at a whopping 7 clubs in the last 5 season, with loan spells at Barnsley, Birmingham, Brighton, Bristol, Millwall and finally Leicester- who he joined permanently in 2013. He’s scored 57 club goals in 173 club appearances, 37 of those in the Championship. Personally I think this would be a good signing. The man has 114 appearances in the Championship, and can score goals. Leicester look to be chasing Jermain Defoe at the home, another name to add to their vast and talented striking options. If that move does happen, there is a great chance Wood will be shipped out- and for not that much either.

Eoin Doyle
Age: 26

We’ve already had one super forward named Doyle before, could we have it again? His background: Born in Dublin, Doyle started his footballing life at Shelbourne, as a youth player, before leaving for Cherry Orchard. He later rejoined Shelbourne as a pro, after being released by Crumlin. Away from Ireland, he signed for Chesterfield in 2013, under manager Paul Cook who worked for him at Sligo Rovers. He scored 13 goals in his first season there, and now has 16 halfway through the season, making him League One top scorer. After 187 club appearances, he’s scored 80 goals. Doyle is scoring goals for fun at the moment, and overall has a great scoring record anyway. He would make a very good signing, and looking at the success of Britt Assombalonga and Callum Wilson, we really should make a move for Doyle who I hear is available for £1-2 million.

Nahki Wells
Age: 24

Our last forward on this list is probably also the leat likely. Nark Wells still has 3 and 1/2 years left on his Huddersfield contract and I doubt would cost under £3 million- well over our budget, I imagine. But he would be great. He began his career in native Bermuda with Dandy Town Hornets (pat on the back for anyone who’s heard of them before), joining at 12 years old. He went on trial at Bradford in 2011 and signed a one year deal in July. He then made his debut on the 2011/2012. After playing well in League One, he signed for Huddersfield for an undisclosed, club record fee. He made his debut 24 hours after signing, coming off the bench vs Millwall and scoring the winner. He has 146 club appearances, with 72 goals. Wells may only have 8 goals this season, but he offers the pace that we need up front, and can finish a ball. I won’t go on about him, because the chances of signing him this window are very, very low.

At Left Back:

Jure Travner
Age: 29

Ok, I know this one doesn’t really count as he’s already training with us and has been on trial for goodness knows how long, but I thought I’d give you a brief history of the unknown Slovenian. He seems like a bit of a misfit. In the last seven seasons he’s played for six clubs. He started his career in his native country, at Celjie. He signed for Watford in 2009 but failed to make a single appearance. He had a 2 year spell at Scottish side St Mirren. At his last club, FC Baku, he made 42 appearances. He was allowed on trial at Reading after a contractual dispute with Baku. And here he is. Honestly hard to tell if this would work out. Juries has bounced from club to club. I don’t know whats caused that. Does he struggle settling in? Is he just not that good a player? Who knows, but I guess we’ll see. The club still haven’t ironed out the contract negotiations.

Luke Garbutt (loan)
Age: 21

I’d welcome Garbutt with open arms. He’s a great young full back, and would obviously be on loan. I highly doubt Everton would want to get rid of his young, English talent. He started his career at Leeds United. His talent was recognised by an Everton scout, and after a tribunal, and £600,000 fee was agreed, and he signed for Everton. He made his debut for Everton against Leyton Orient in the League Cup and his league debut came against Southampton in April. His most recent loan spell was with Colchester United, but was recalled after 19 appearances due to an Oviedo injury. He’s been in the England set up all the way through from under 16s-21s. This would be a great signing, I watched him play for the under 21s a couple of months a go, he was very good and looked very competent. Although it would only be temporary, he offers great quality and is experienced for his age.

Matthew Targett
Age: 19

This one depends on whether Southampton sign Ryan Bertrand permanently this January, or another left back all together. He’s been a member of the Southampton academy since age 8. He made his first team debut against Millwall in the League Cup. He only has 5 appearances for Southampton in total, although 2 of those are against Chelsea and Arsenal. He’s a good player, I’ve watched him against Chelsea and he was a good player. He’d been a decent man for us to Targett (har, har).

Well there you go, some decent players to look at in the positions we should probably look at. Hope you enjoyed and I hope we see these players in Reading shirts as soon as possible.