Kitson to Stoke

[whipsmart13]

http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/sport/football/article-1035773/Stoke-bid-4m-Reading-striker-Kitson.html

Dave Kitson is on his way to Stoke City after Reading accepted a £4m bid.

The initial fee for the former non-league striker is believed to be in the region of £2m with the remainder based on Stoke's success during their first season in the Barclays Premier League.
Birmingham also approached Steve Coppell but he was reluctant to allow them to speak to Kitson because he sees them as one of Reading's main rivals for promotion from the Championship next season.

Stoke boss Tony Pulis has also contacted Ipswich Town over a £2m deal for midfielder-cum-forward Jonathan Walters.
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Of all the strikers, I thought that Kitson was the one to keep because he's unique to the other strikers (Doyle, Lita and Long) because of his height and vision. However, if he wanted to leave, so be it.

I thought this might be the case when he was held out of the pre-season match recently.

[Neeto]

So long Kitson. He was one of my favorite players and always worked hard in the games. He has contributed alot to Reading over the past years and he will never be forgotten. On the Reading site, they said that Kitson was ill and could not play the last two games. I had a feeling that Kitson wasn't ill and that he was out of the line up because he was close on a transfer.

Well, I would think our priority now it to keep the rest of the attackers because we can't afford to loose any more. I do hope we keep at least Doyle.

[Neeto]

Apparently the deal isn't quite done yet. Reading slapped a 6m pound price tag on him and a deal hasn't been reached.
http://www.readingchronicle.co.uk/articles/1/3586/

[rms5555]

Well I hope that they can hold on to him.

[Neeto]

Ok, it looks like the transfer is going to go through. Stoke are going to announce the transfer early on Friday.
Gutted!
http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11095_3831543,00.html

[rms5555]

Ugh

[whipsmart13]

I had heard from a player via e-mail this afternoon that it was a done deal.
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Well it's a huge profit on £150,000. We've had Kitson's best years, he is 28 and has hardly played a full season in his career. £5m is not bad money for a 28 year old. Lita and Doyle are easily good enough or the championship, and with Long and maybe a young new player offering back up, we should be ok until next year in the Premiership.

[Laudy]

5M for Kitson was the right move. He was the oldest striker and not our best. He was a big target for crosses and jump balls but he looked to be tailing off at the end of last season. Either way, this gives the rest of the guys a chance to gel and hopefully take a step forward. I see this as a positive move for the team. If there is someone on Coppell's radar I say put the money right back into another player that can help now. Maybe a midfielder to compliment Matejovsky in the middle and let Harper go. Don't get me wrong I like Harps but he hasn't exactly provided a spark lately. I say throw money at a player and see if we can lure someone in on the premise that we hopefully will be back in the prem in two seasons. Let's not just waste money but I trust Coppell's judgement, for now.

[RichardL]

5M for Kitson was the right move. He was the oldest striker and not our best. He was a big target for crosses and jump balls but he looked to be tailing off at the end of last season. Either way, this gives the rest of the guys a chance to gel and hopefully take a step forward. I see this as a positive move for the team. If there is someone on Coppell's radar I say put the money right back into another player that can help now. Maybe a midfielder to compliment Matejovsky in the middle and let Harper go. Don't get me wrong I like Harps but he hasn't exactly provided a spark lately. I say throw money at a player and see if we can lure someone in on the premise that we hopefully will be back in the prem in two seasons. Let's not just waste money but I trust Coppell's judgement, for now.

you can dress it any way you want. There's no way that not having Kitson there is any kind of bonus.

The question is how much of the cash will be spent on a replacements, and will the money be spent well? The worrying thing is that the answers will quite possibly be "not enough" and "probably not".

[rms5555]

I hope that Matejovsky is the answer in the middle. If not I have to agree with Laudy that any monies should be spent on a holding Mid. The team never found someone to fill the hole left by Sidwell last season.

[whipsmart13]

Would love to see Harper cashed out and Bikey move up to the holding Midfield position. Put Doobs and Ivar in the CB and we have a strong defensive team.

Take the cash from Kits, Harps and Shorey and go after a solution at RW and a target striker.

[ElSpruceMoose]

It seemed apparent to me that he would go, I was pleased to see he went for 5.5 instead of 4 million

[rms5555]

Kitson move confirmed on the Reading site. (http://www.readingfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10306~1346906,00.html) I guess this is what happens when you go down. How long before Shorey follows?

[whipsmart13]

Hopefully Shorey is out soon. I thought he did a poor job of defending last year and it is easy to see why he is not in England's plans right now. He did a good job of passing but his lack of pace and lack of defending strength/skill make him a liability in the back 4. Given his comments, I think it is a 99% chance that he would not sign with Reading so they need to cash him out while they are in the Championship and pick up a nice young replacement.

[Pablo Chicago]

It seemed apparent to me that he would go, I was pleased to see he went for 5.5 instead of 4 million

So now that Reading has room, who can Coppell get for 5.5 million (or whatever percentage of the 5.5 million he actually gets to work with)?

[mschofield]

good for him. He will be missed, his goals and his hair. but at 28, and after the service he put in for the team these years, no hard feelings. hope he tears it up (though could have done with that last season, eh?)