Lucas Joao Is Your September Player Of The Month

Congratulations are in order for Lucas Joao, who you’ve voted to be your September player of the month. The centre forward took a whopping 67% of the vote, coming in way ahead of the competition. Michael Olise (10%) came second, while Omar Richards (8%) was third.

It’s the first time a striker has taken our player-of-the-month award in exactly two years. All the back way in September 2018, Jon Dadi Bodvarsson took the award for a blistering goalscoring start to the season, having netted six goals in nine league appearances.

Joao however has been finding the net even more prolifically, with five goals in four appearances in all competitions. The first three of those came against Colchester United in Reading’s opening fixture of the season, another followed at Derby County a week later, and Joao made it five at Cardiff City.

He’s been key for the side’s general play too. Joao’s strength and technical ability make him a capable target man who can hold the ball up and bring the attacking midfielders behind him into the game. He did that to great effect at Derby when his back-heel assist found Ovie Ejaria for Reading’s second goal.

The question now though is whether or not he can get straight back into the starting XI. You would have thought that’d be the case, but George Puscas’ fine performance and goal against Watford will have given him a good chance of staying in the team after the international break.