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Besides all the transfer rumours and gossip flying around at the moment, we do actually some (relatively) concrete news to bring you. As reported by Get Reading today, 22 year old triallist Danzell Gravenberch might sign for the Royals, but the club will make a decision on that in the summer.
His current club, FC Dordrecht of the Dutch second tier, allowed the Dutchman to train in Berkshire in the hope of sealing a transfer. With Gravenberch having left England, Brian McDermott had this to say on the matter...
"He trained with us. We will see what happens in the summer. He can play centre half, midfield, striker. He can play everywhere. He looks strong. But that's for the summer, we can't do anything now."
Judging by that, he could very well be lined up as a replacement for, well, pretty much anyone in the squad. The comment about 'he looks strong' doesn't really do Gravenberch justice in truth - this photo suggests that you could drop a tank on him and it'd barely make a scratch.
Transfers: #ReadingFC to make summer decision on Gravenberch. https://t.co/7lc12ghDmr
— Charles Watts (@charles_watts) April 27, 2016
Besides not really knowing how good he is, I for one would be happy if this one came off. Brian McDermott saying that a deal could happen suggests that the trial went pretty well. Plus, with Gravenberch currently at a financially weak, small side in the Netherlands, I doubt a transfer would cost that much.
That said, putting those quotes from the gaffer into context with what we have/haven't heard from the Thais recently, it could mean that no transfer budget has been worked out yet. Hence, no decision will be made until the summer - when we know how much money is available for signing new players. I'm not suggesting that we'd be priced out of a move, just that the club is (probably, sensibly) not making any promises on this kind of topic just yet.