Sad times for all you Ola John aficionados out there, but good news for anyone who still holds hopes of seeing the Benfica man return to Reading. According to Portuguese site Record, the Dutch winger has been relegated to training with the reserves for the duration of preseason. John still has one year left on his contract with the Encarnados, but hasn't been able to prove his worth to manager Rui Vitoria.
More interestingly, the article reports that Ola John will be available on a loan deal next season. It had been expected that Benfica were keen on recouping the 8 million Euros which they paid for John in 2012, but that doesn't look like a likely prospect.
Does that mean Reading will go back in for him?
At the moment, there's no hard indication of interest from Reading in John, but I'd imagine that we would be very interested in another loan deal. Then again, new manager Jaap Stam might have other ideas.
An alternative spanner in the works could be Nicky Hammond. It was speculated about a month ago that Hammond's new club, West Brom, could be interested in signing Ola John. Unlike Reading, the Baggies are in a position to buy John outright, with the winger reportedly being available for a figure in the region of 6 million Euros.
Would you like to see Ola John back at Reading? Leave us a comment below.
The original article from Record was translated with the help of Google Translate.