Reading Release Initial Retained List

We finally have the first incarnation of this year's list from the club on which out-of-contract players will be retained, and which will be shown the door. Reading fans have been waiting for this information for quite some time now, with quite a long list of players' futures in the balance.

The news around the main figures - Adam Federici, Alex Pearce and Jem Karacan - is pretty unsurprising, with all being offered new deals. However, interestingly, 31 year old right-back Stephen Kelly also remains in discussions with the club. Having been initially brought in during the high-spending days of the Premiership campaign two and a half years ago, you can only assume that there's a possibility of agreeing a reduced deal for the Irishman.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">So basically, the only surprise is that Kelly has been offered a new deal. Guess we all thought he would be off. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/readingfc?src=hash">#readingfc</a></p>&mdash; Charles Watts (@charles_watts) <a href="https://twitter.com/charles_watts/status/601434678902427648">May 21, 2015</a></blockquote>

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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">On Kelly though. I can see why Clarke would want to keep him on. I&#39;m not against him staying at all, on lower wages obvioulsy. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/readingfc?src=hash">#readingfc</a></p>&mdash; Charles Watts (@charles_watts) <a href="https://twitter.com/charles_watts/status/601435475195203584">May 21, 2015</a></blockquote>

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As for other senior players in the squad, Danny Guthrie, Yakubu, Jure Travner and Zat Knight have all departed. The former arrived under Brian McDermott on a free transfer from Newcastle United three seasons ago. On the other hand, the latter trio were all short-term signings by current manager Steve Clarke, but evidently none have done enough to become part of the gaffer's plans going forwards.

Encouragingly, the club has assured the immediate futures of several promising academy players. The highly rated Dominic Samuel, Pierce Sweeney and Sammi Fridjonsson will all remain in Berkshire. Further down the group, the likes of Alex Andresson, Lewis Collins, Conor Davis and Sindri Scheving have all been retained although, being part of the u18s squad, we most likely won't see them for several years yet.

The best known academy graduates missing out are Mikkel Andersen and Ryan Edwards - both of whom made their senior debuts this season just gone. That said, Andersen's status is described by the club as having not been offered a new deal 'at this stage', so his time at Reading might not yet be completely finished. The other youngsters leaving Berkshire are Dan Lincoln, Jonathan Henly, George McLennan and Aleks Gogic.

Speaking about our financial and squad plans going forwards, the club had this to say...

"As we enter our third year out of the Premier League, the club's owners recognise the need for Steve Clarke to freshen his squad ahead of the new campaign, and this is the new beginning of that process. After a period of financial instability and with the Financial Fair Play regulations in place, the owners are also making a concerted effort to get back to the sensible wage principles that have long been the club's trademark. Striking the right balance will be key to a sustainable model for success."

You can read the full, original article released by the club here.