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It has been announced today that at the weekend centre-back Michael Hector put pen to paper on a new three-year contract with Reading FC.
The highly rated academy graduate only signed a new two year deal last summer, but the club have acted quickly to reward the youngster for his performances last season which saw him finish second in the supporters and Tilehurst End Player of the Year award.
The 22 year old told the club's website upon signing his new deal, "This is a proud moment for me and my family. I want to play week in, week out in the Championship again next season and hopefully I can do well and, as a team, we can improve on last year. That's the aim."
Not surprising manager Steve Clarke was delighted with the news. ""Since I came to the club in December 2014, Michael's performances have improved almost from game to game. For a young defender to show such consistency of performance is great to see."
"However it was his work day in, day out on the training ground that impressed me the most and has shown me that Michael can have a big future in the game."
The new contract is just the start of a busy summer for Hector. Later this week he will fly out to Jamaica with team mate Garath McCleary as the Reggae Boyz begin their preparations for the Copa America in Chile. Jamaica have been drawn alongside Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay in the group stages.
Later this summer they will then take part in the CONCAF Gold Cup tournament in the USA, but it is unknown yet whether the Royals' Jamaican duo will take part in that tournament.
The news of Hector's new contract will certainly be a lift to Reading fans at a time when there are doubts whether club captain Jem Karacan and vice captain Alex Pearce will sign new contracts offered to them last month. The more cautious fans will surely recall that Gylfi Sigurdsson signed a new deal just months before he was sold to Hoffenheim. We may yet be in for a nervous few months to see if Hector is still at the Madejski Stadium going into September.