Reading FC Striker Rumours Hot Up

That noise you can hear is the smoke coming off keyboard as various sources throw out just about every name under the sun and ‘link’ them with Reading. Some of those sources are more reliable than others, and we’ll allow you to pass your own judgements there, but what we do KNOW is that Jaap Stam wants a striker before the window slams shut on Thursday.

Olly has already covered the Sone Aluko rumour today, but let’s look at some of the other names linked with a move to Berkshire.

Jordan Hugill

Remember January 2013, when Reading seemed to just be sign players that had played against us recently? Nick Blackman, Hope Akpan, Stephen Kelly for example. Well, this time around it’s a man who scored Preston’s winner against us just over a week ago, Jordan Hugill.

According to the Lancashire Evening Telegraph, Preston turned down an £8m bid from Reading for the striker over the weekend. That seemingly hasn’t pleased the 25-year-old, who slapped in a transfer request. Preston have since released a statement saying that request has been rejected and the player won’t be sold in this transfer window.

So Preston are digging in but whether that’s a bargaining tool, or a hard and fast stance, remains to be seen, especially with Leeds, Wolves and Birmingham also said to be interested.

Nelson Oliveira

This one has been rumbling on all summer long, with Jaap Stam re-affirming his interest in the Norwich forward in speaking to local media after Saturday’s win at Birmingham.

There are a handful of people ‘In the know’ on Twitter claiming that a deal is edging closer but right now we don’t have much more than that to go on.

What has been reported over the past 24-hours is that Leeds have apparently ended their interest in signing him, so that would seemingly strengthen our chances of landing him.

Earlier in the summer the fee was reported to be around £8m, a fee we understand to be wide of the mark. Whether the bidding has NOW gone that high, remains to be seen.

Edwin Gyasi

Who? Yup, my reaction as well. Yet he is a real footballer, having been recently called up to the Ghana side for this week’s World Cup qualifier with Congo, where he’ll link up with a ghost of deadline day past, Asamoah Gyan. 24-year-old Gyasi, was born in Amsterdam and the forward is currently playing for Norwegian side Aalesund, having spent a period in the Ajax youth system before several moves around the Netherlands.

This particular rumour is an ‘exclusive’ from Ghanasoccernet, a site which we’ve not had much experience with here at TTE, leaving our opinion on whether they’re reliable to be somewhat limited.

However, this seems a pretty bizarre rumour to just make up, while the Ajax connection is one that would have potentially put him on Brian Tevreden’s radar. Funnily enough he would have another Reading connection, having played at Telstar during the same time Reading sent Academy graduates Jacob Walcott.

One more to keep an eye on anyway.

Glen Johnson

OK he’s not a striker but I thought I’d throw this one in anyway. The Reading Chronicle’s Courtney Friday posted the following a little earlier today.

I can’t currently find who these media in Stoke are but we’ll go with it anyway.

Could it happen?

Well full-back cover would be nice, yet signing Johnson at 33-years-old doesn’t seem like a great spend of resources, unless the injury to Jordan Obita is more serious than we feared. Even then, neither Johnson, nor Chris Gunter are natural left-backs, so either would be a bit of a fudge. I’m sure that Johnson would be a very solid signing, perhaps even a marginal upgrade on Gunter in some areas, yet on the surface this one seems unlikely.

Still, football is a zany, zany business and whatever the case, I’m sure one Reading fan in particular will have a lot to watch from whatever bush he decides on this Thursday.