Transfer Round Up: 8th June

So as we enter the second week of June it's fair to say the transfer rumours are starting to fly around at quite a pace now as the new season draws ever closer.

Potential Signings

Paul McShane

Local newspapers have reported that Steve Clarke flew over to Dublin to speak to McShane about him joining the Royals. With Alex Pearce joining Derby it looks more likely by the day that McShane will link up with Clarke at Reading. He is also a very experienced centre back which could prove very well for the future with the emergence of Michael Hector and the improving Jake Cooper. With Anton Ferdinand's lack of football it was vital for Reading to replace Pearce with an experienced player who has 102 appearances for Hull and 31 international caps for Ireland.

Ali Al Habsi

The former Wigan Athletic shot-stopper was released by the Latics as they look to rebuild their squad ahead of their League 1 campaign. The Daily Mail reported that Reading, Tottenham and West Ham were all looking at signing the 33 year old but it seems unlikely that the Hammers will make a move for the keeper after signing Birmingham goalkeeper Darren Randolph as their second choice keeper. I haven't been convinced with Al Habsi in the times that I have seen him play but as Reading don't have a senior goalkeeper (Can't really say Stuart Moore is because he has made 0 appearances for us!) in their squad at the moment I would admit that he will do for the short term!

Wes Foderingham

Speculation linking the former Swindon goalkeeper to Reading seems to have eased off with Birmingham now seemingly the favourites to sign the goalkeeper who made 44 appearances for a Swindon side that lost in the play off final to Preston. This would be a good signing for us with Foderingham being one of the stand out players for Swindon last season and at the age of just 24 he definitely is still developing and could definitely do a great job at a club in the championship.

Jamie Mackie

Now I think I speak for the majority of Reading fans in saying that Jamie Mackie would be more than welcome back at the Madejski stadium this season. That man's work rate is incredible and he was one of our best players this season which was shown by him finishing in the Top 3 players of the season as voted by the fans. Reports have said that Reading are struggling to agree on a price with Nottingham Forest and wages could be an issue with Reading only paying half of his wages when he was on loan with us for the 2nd half of the season.

Potential Departures

Jem Karacan

This player is going to remain in the departures section until the club actually release a statement regarding his future which I expect will be in the next few weeks. With Pearce and Federici now off the wage bill I personally would hope the club offer what he is demanding because Karacan can be a player that we can build around this season because when he's back to full fitness he can be an extremely influential player in the squad.

Mikkel Anderson

This one is an interesting one and one I would be very surprised if it happened. Although Anderson is currently out of contract, I still expected us to offer him a contract with the lack of goalkeepers currently at the club. League 2 side Hartlepool have been linked to the Danish keeper and with the club's connections to us (Tshibola loan deal), it seems like a possible deal. Although (no disrespect to Hartlepool at all!) I feel he should be playing at a higher level of football than League 2 but if the deal does go through then all the best to him as he would definitely be first choice there.

So that concludes the transfer round up for this week but hopefully next week i'll have some more new players to bring to the round up!