Summer Transfers

[rms5555]

Relegated Reading open to Shorey offers (http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=537574&cc=5901)

And so it begins. We all knew Shorey was gone once the drop hit, but who else will go? Who can we get?

[whipsmart13]

Fae will be gone shortly....most likely to Lyon but there are two other French Ligue1 teams involved. We won't get our transfer money back on him and will probably only get half of what we paid for him. I also see us getting rid of:

(1) Either Doyle or Lita
(2) Harper or Hunt

Personally, I would like to see Lita, Harper and Hunt go because I would like to see us become a better passing team and all three are offensive liabilities when it comes to working the ball around and attacking a defense.

[Convey Crew]

Any word if Bobby Convey is interested in going to the Dutch league? MLS? Or if he might get a call from another EPL team? I don't see him staying another year in the Championship.

[rms5555]

With all his injuries he never really had a chance to show anybody what he could do in the Prem, so I don't think he will be getting a call from anybody there. And if his options are to stay with Reading in the CCC with a chance to get back to the Prem or move on to the MLS or the Dutch league, I think he should stay at Reading.

[Laudy]

I believe Fae has to go given his antics late in the season. If Coppell would have gone then things would be different but since Coppell stayed Fae is as good as gone. Let's get what we can for him and move on. I believe that Lita is also going to move on probably to one of the recently promoted teams. As I said before I feel Hunt will stay with the team and I think that he is an important player to keep because he brings an aggressive mentality that we need although he seemed to lose that during the end of the season.

Our focus should be on keeping Matejovsky and giving him another midfielder that will complement his style. Our offense should run through him. That being said we need to add a striker that will get open and finish what he starts. Lita was the only striker who even came close to filling that role. Kitson was just lost the second half of the season and Doyle likes to play long ball so they really didn't play to each other's strengths. My projection for the lineup would be this:

---------Hahnemann---------
Rosenoir--Bikey--Duberry/Cisse--Ingimarsson
Hunt---Matejovsky---New player---Convey(if healthy)
-----------Doyle-------New player---------

It may also be time to inject some youth into the lineup or at least onto the bench. I just hope we can change things up and create more offense because that was our downfall last season.

[whipsmart13]

My lineup

---------Hahnemann---------
Rosenoir--Ingi--Sonko--Goldburne
Little---Matejovsky---Bikey---Hunt/Convey
-----------Long-------Kitson---------

[SteveCoppell]

What do you guys think about Reading signing some more guys from MLS?
Americans seem to do fairly well in England and they can settle quicker than European guys do to the language and more similar cultures etc.

Also, now we are in the championship, its not as big a jump as moving from MLS to premiership. With Shorey leaving, could Jonathan Bornstein come in and play left back?

What about Maurice Edu, or Eddie Gaven?
Are these guys good enough for Reading?

There are also rumours of Carlos Bocanegra joining after being released by Fulham.

[lestat2x]

I'd like to see Heath Pearce get a look for potentially filling in the left back. He's been in and out of favor at Hansa Rostock, even playing left mid for a few games. Even better is he'd be pretty cheap to obtain, so Madejski can't complain.

We definitely need to find left and right midfielders, especially if Convey and Hunt leave. Hunt is simply not good enough and Convey might be injured/upset or both.

I think Coppell will definitely take the current players to task. If Shorey and Hunt leave they'd probably bring a few million quid in transfer fees and offload some expensive underperforming salaried players. Actually I shouldn't say "if" Shorey leaves, he's gone as soon as they find a suitor who is agreeable to all parties. Hunt should leave since there is no reason to be paying $50k/week to someone who runs around. Lets get back to being a slick passing and crossing team.

[RichardL]

I'd like to see Heath Pearce get a look for potentially filling in the left back. He's been in and out of favor at Hansa Rostock, even playing left mid for a few games. Even better is he'd be pretty cheap to obtain, so Madejski can't complain.

We definitely need to find left and right midfielders, especially if Convey and Hunt leave. Hunt is simply not good enough and Convey might be injured/upset or both.

I think Coppell will definitely take the current players to task. If Shorey and Hunt leave they'd probably bring a few million quid in transfer fees and offload some expensive underperforming salaried players. Actually I shouldn't say "if" Shorey leaves, he's gone as soon as they find a suitor who is agreeable to all parties. Hunt should leave since there is no reason to be paying $50k/week to someone who runs around. Lets get back to being a slick passing and crossing team.
I think most, if not all of the players had 40% wage cut clauses apparently.

Hunt would be fine in the championship. Defenders aren't as good and he'd get past them time and time again.

If Sunderland do bid £5 million though, I can't see us turning it down.

[soccer krazy]

Glen little joins Portsmouth
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/p/portsmouth/7465979.stm

[Pablo Chicago]

Glen little joins Portsmouth
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/p/portsmouth/7465979.stm

He's 32, injury prone, and played all of 2 games last season. How much did Reading pay Portsmouth to take him? ;)

Seriously though, Copps taking a pay cut and being placed in a position of getting rid of players in order to find enough money to get players?

Not good. Not good.

[whipsmart13]

Sonko has requested a transfer. He said it after scoring a goal against Liberia this weekend and said it despite hearing that Coppell would welcome him this Fall to camp.

I don't mind Sonko leaving because I like Bikey, Doobs, Ivar and Pearce next year in the Championship (with an occasional Cisse) but the whole incident with Sonks/Fae last season looks more and more to be an issue with Coppell's lack of communication with the team. versus "bad" seeds. As much as I hated to hear Fae go off on Coppell, he never got a chance with the team while players like Bryn, Oster and Murts continued to get chance after chance despite being overmatched.

[Laudy]

Yor are correct as Coppell's loyalty in the older players was his downfall. Fae never did get a fair shake but the way he handled things always ends up bad. Sonko on the other hand did get plenty of chances and looked lost most of the time. I don't know how a player that showed so much promise turned into an overrated problem child. It might be better if he left. Duberry just signed a 1 year deal so he can take up the center back spot next to Bikey.

In the next week or so things should start to pick up as the Euro's will be done and managers will be focusing on next season. Hopefully, Coppell and the boys have some things lined up.

[whipsmart13]

Right now, we're looking at losing:
Little - Pompey (Free)
Shorey - Pompey, West Sham or Newcastle ($6-8M USD)
Harper - Boro ($5-6M USD)
Hunt - Sunderland - ($6-10M USD)
Doyle - ??? ($5-8M USD)
Kitson - Celtic, Newcastle, Wigan, Fulham ($???)

This would leave us with an 11 of
--------- Marcus -------------
Murts-Bikey--Doobs/Ivar---Liam R
Kebe/Henry--Marek---Convey
--Lita - Long

[Convey Crew]

Reading looks like they are going to be in the Championship League for awhile if all of the transfer rumors actually happen. The core will be ruined, and it will be hard to replace the players that they are going to lose. They couldn't add a few players to the mix last year to get them out of the relagation zone. What makes you think a miracle will happen? Convey jump ship while you can the Reading ship is going down!!!!!!

[whipsmart13]

I forgot Cisse

This would leave us with an 11 of
--------- Marcus -------------
Murts-Bikey--Doobs/Ivar---Liam R
Kebe/Henry--Marek--Cisse--Convey
--Lita - Long

[Neeto]

If Whipsmart is right about who is leaving this summer, I am still happy with the present squad. The back line will be fine. I am excited about adding Pearce in the back because I hear nothing but good things about him. The middle is weakened a bit, but we still have matejovsky. I'm already grinning thinking about Matejovsky tearing up championship sides. The rest of the midfield will do well in the championship. I believe Kitson or Doyle will leave, but not both. Any of them with Lita will be great with Long as a back up. Let's not forget about possible loans we will receive from young premiership clubs as well. We aren't in the premiership anymore and I still believe there is more gas in the tank with this side. I think we will have more of a successful season rather than bad one.

[RichardL]

If Whipsmart is right about who is leaving this summer, I am still happy with the present squad. .

It isn't that realistic to assume all those players will leave just because rumours in the papers say so. It's even less likely to assume if the players go that nobody will come in. I don't think we'll be able to accurately assess the squad until August.

[Neeto]

Here are some names that are linked to come join Reading in the summer...

Seyi Olofinjana-MF Wolverhampton
Clinton Morrison-FW Crystal Palace
Noel Hunt-FW Dundee United (Stephen Hunt's brother)

[Neeto]

Looks like Coppell has made his first signing of the season. Noel Hunt (Stephen Hunt's brother) is coming to Reading from Dundee United in a 600,000 pound move. Don't know much about him, but could be a good option up front.