Reading FC Linked To Panathinaikos Defender Rasmus Thelander

First up, a hat tip to @Maffff on Twitter, who managed to dig out this obscure rumour from Gazzetta.Gr.

In short, Reading are - according to Gazzetta.Gr - rumoured to be looking at Panathinaikos centre back Rasmus Thelander. The article doesn’t give any indication as to fee or contract length, but it does say his departure is “very close”, and could come within the next few days.

Apart from that, there’s not really any solid information, but the whole rumour is just so random that I expect there could be something to it.

Going by our go-to source for obscure players from Europe that we’ve never heard of (Transfermarkt), Thelander is a 6ft 2inch, 26 year-old Dane who’s played 31 times for current club Panathinaikos. Before that, he started his career at Aalborg, for whom he played 75 times.

In fact, in his entire professional career, he’s only played 149 times, scoring eight goals. For a 26 year-old, that’s hardly an impressive figure - for comparison, 24 year-old Liam Moore has played 172 games.

Otherwise, his contract is due to expire in 2018, which could be why Reading are going in for him.