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Reading confirmed on Saturday morning that Niall Keown has left the club to join Scottish side Partick Thistle on a permanent basis, for an undisclosed fee.
The academy defender naturally perked up ears as the son of Arsenal and Royals icon Martin Keown, and even made a couple of first-team appearances late in the 2014/15 campaign.
However those showings came to nothing and he headed north to join former Reading winger and friend of the show Ryan Edwards up in Glasgow last January, a move which has now been made permanent.
Should we be worried by this seemingly mass exodus of homegrown talent? Tarique Fosu, Zak Jules, Aaron Kuhl and Jack Stacey are among the other names we had once tipped for senior glory but have now been allowed to leave.
To be fair, Keown was 22 and time is constantly running out for these players to make the step up, and if a succession of managers consistently don't feel the need to trust them in the Championship, why should we as fans?
Nonetheless, we wish the best to Niall and hope he makes a success of his crack at first-team football up in Scotland.