Jaap Stam Hoping Reading FC Will Make Signings In January

Jaap Stam's arrival in the summer marked the start of a new era at Reading. Working alongside new technical director Brian Tevreden, Stam overhauled the first team squad with almost a dozen signings.

Recently, Stam was interviewed by the Dutch press, with the topic of signings coming up. Here's what he had to say.

On the budget limitations at Reading

"Reading must be creative in the transfer market. We initially focused on the English players market, but Reading can't pay 5 million Euros for a signing.

"In addition, mediocre players at this level cost 30,000 a week in salary. We won't do that."

On summer transfers

"Ultimately, we've still managed to bring in some good talent. John Swift of Chelsea, Tyler Blackett of Manchester United and Liam Moore from Leicester City.

"We also asked about some Ajax players but they were too expensive for us. So that for us was not an option."

Looking forwards

"We can also get a lot more out of the experienced players already here than they have shown so far. That's a great challenge.

And perhaps we can get some targeted strengthening in the winter."

All in all, Stam doesn't seem too unhappy about Reading's summer business. After all, as he points out, the club did bring in some very promising young players without paying too much.

Nonetheless, the small budget does make it hard for Reading to compete with the likes of Newcastle United, Aston Villa, Derby County and others.

So, with that in mind, don't expect Reading to splash the cash any time soon. Not that we were expecting that of course.

The original interview comes from Voetbal International, but it's behind a paywall. We got our version from the lovely people at Voetbal Primeur.

We translated Jaap Stam's quotes with the help of Google Translate, so they're not a completely accurate translation.